


Tale of the Troublemaker Rin

by Bolded



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fist Fights, Friendship, Good Uchiha Obito, Gritty, Jinchuuriki Nohara Rin, Jinchuuriki-centric, Minato saves Rin, Nohara Rin Lives, Post-Third Shinobi War, Team Minato-centric, Third Shinobi War, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:02:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 56,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25290589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bolded/pseuds/Bolded
Summary: When the Yellow Flash manages to save his two students from the grasp of ninjas from the Hidden Mist, the fate of a young girl, but also the fate of the entire world, ends up irrevocably changed. As the war continue to rage on, Rin must uses her newfound gifts and adapt to her changed life before it consumes her.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Nohara Rin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	1. Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> “For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,  
> For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,  
> For the want of a horse the rider was lost,  
> For the want of a rider the battle was lost,  
> For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,  
> And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”

The scene replays in her mind every time.

She's stranded deep in that cave, enemy shinobi from the Hidden Rock are swarming, ready to finish off a trio of unexpectedly tough Leaf shinobis, and Kakashi, equipped with his newfound Sharingan, stand defiantly against the horde, his hand crackling with the lightning from his new Jutsu. "Get back, Rin!" He shouts at her, right as the group of enemy shinobis leap from their spots, descending upon them like hawks. 

She screams at him not to go, not to die, but the noise from his Jutsu block her out, or he knows all too well that backing off is impossible. The masked boy leaps to his fate, aware that his new eye and now-perfected Jutsu still can't hope to save him, and Rin put her hands on her ears, all too aware of his imminent fate, yet unable to comply with his request when she had already lost him.

Then, there's nothing but a flash.

…

Rin awakened from the dream and got up with such swiftness that she very nearly hit her forehead on the roof of the little "room" she was using to sleep in, only avoiding a rather painful collision thanks to her reflexes. Sill, her sudden awakening caused Kakashi, who was standing near a small hole, to practically spin to face her, putting one hand on the handle of his short-sword in case there was danger. The young girl stopped, startled at his speed and reaction, and blinked shortly before folding her arms. "S-sorry, it was just a nightmare." She said, somewhat shyly. Kakashi moved his head and then slowly let go of the sword, sitting with his legs crossed.

The log they were residing in had been hollowed out to make enough room, and some hay had been placed on it to make sleeping an easier task. Rin was initially surprised at Kakashi finding such a convenient hiding/sleeping spot at first, before she remembered how careful he was. He had likely arranged to make a bunch of those all over the Mist country to host them both. There was even enough space for more than two, though unfortunately enough, it had been just the two of them quickly enough.

Rin glanced to the little "room" next to her, leading to the outside. A little door had been placed there, to hide the sleeping ninjas from their hunters, since it would quite be unsafe to just leave a big hole into the structure. Rin's "room" (if it could be called that) was in the middle, the entrance was on the left and Kakashi was on the right, occasionally peering at the window. The rain outside was heavy, as expected by their environment. Rin hadn't been too bothered by it though. If anything, it made it easier for her to sleep, and it contrasted nicely with the… silence in her cell. Kakashi seemed vaguely annoyed by it, peering outside from time to time to look out for hunters. "… Nightmares." He repeated. "I know it probably won't be easy, but you should go back to sleep, Rin, we're going to need all our available strength to cross the country."

"Well…" She shifted a little. The room was a little small though. It wasn't anything too bad thankfully, and she knew better than to criticize Kakashi because of that. After all, hiding places like those weren't mean to be comfortable, and the fact that he had put in some hay was already quite generous of him. "I don't feel that tired." Upon saying this, she raised her hand and clenched it a few times, looking at her palm intensively. He frowned, as if about to say something, but she proved faster for once. "I'm not even kidding, I don't feel like I need to go back to sleep."

"… Was the nightmare that bad?" Rin bit her lips in silence. There was truth to her words, but it was hardly the sole reason for her refusal to sleep. She shook her head timidly, and he sighed a little before looking out again. This made the Nohara worry a little for him: He insisted on her need to conserve some energy, but what about him? He was constantly on the look-out, constantly using that precious eye of his to look for threats, and never allowed himself to lower his guard for even the slightest second. He wasn't even sleeping, it seemed.

"It was a little bad yeah." A brief silence. "Well, it was awful." She eventually admitted. "It's always the same one, too… I should maybe go see a therapist!" Rin attempted to laugh a little to defuse the tension, but Kakashi remained stiff as a board. "Well, it's not like they'd have the time considering all the people they have to greet in the first place." She scratched the top of her head and then the realization hit her shortly before her shoulders deflated. With what what happening to her, she doubted that she'd be seeing a therapist soon.

"Is there something wrong?" Asked Kakashi. Rin hesitated a little.

"Everything since the past week, hehe…" The young chûnin tried to soothe the sarcastic nature of her reply with a sweet smile, and Kakashi cocked his head briefly. "S-sorry." She said. "But, Kakashi, you know that you should…" She looked away and breathed out. "You shouldn't bring me home." She had failed to sway him several times, but yet he was always stubborn, explaining that they'd find a way, though not even he could do anything else but fall silent whenever she asked for a specific way.

She didn't resent him for it. Kakashi wanted to protect her, and would rather die than run her through with his Raikiri. At times too, while he never quite managed to put forth anything tangible, he managed to make his replies sound convincing enough for Rin to hope that, somewhere in Konoha, there existed a scroll with a Jutsu specifically designed to deal with what she was going through, or that they'd whip up a seal capable of containing the monster in no time.

And then she remembered that she wouldn't have the time, and that the Three-Tails would be freed by now. Even if it weren't released in the middle of Konoha, it could still easily cause tremendous damage to the Fire Country, and Konoha's very best would lose their lives containing it. And the doubt and desire to just end her life to suppress the beast's menace would come back. If she ended her life, here and now, then the beast would be out of anyone's grasp for a while and Konoha would not be threatened. Seeing that, she thought of… doing something drastic to ensure that the beast would not arrive at the shores of her country.

But then she remembered that she wanted to live, she was afraid of dying. She couldn't even consider picking up the kunai before visualizing her friends and family, and god knows that she didn't want to inflict yet another trauma upon Kakashi… And, for the sake of him too, she had to live and not waste his sacrifice. 

"Weakling." A little voice resonated inside her. "Cowardly little weakling, you're gonna put everyone on trouble again."

"No." Kakashi was as blunt as ever. "But I've thought about it while you were asleep. Do you remember Sensei's wife?"

"How could I forget her?" Despite her grim thoughts, Rin smiled a little while thinking about Kushina, perhaps the only person in existence capable of successfully intimidating the Yellow Flash himself. Still, she had endeared herself to the team, even keeping them both company after the mission at Kannabi Bridge. For all her fired-up demeanor, she was an extraordinarily kind woman. "But…"

"She's a part of the Uzumaki." Kakashi leaned forward a little and put his fist on his chin, to support his head. "They're good at sealing, and she taught Sensei about that art too." 

"You mean that sensei…" Rin considered the option. Was Kakashi saying that he could use a stronger seal to keep the Bijuu from breaking out? Would they have a seal to do just that in the first place? But even if they could… Did he even know about their tragic predicament, he had been on a mission when those Hidden Mist troops caught Rin after a particularly confusing battle near the sea, after all, and the war's escalation requested him to be off in the frontline more than ever.

She had hoped he'd eventually arrive, but while Minato would likely be willing to save her, the three-way battle between Kumo, Iwa and Konoha up north of the fire country was supposedly grabbing his attention, and Kiri was using its relative isolation to build up strength and send small shock teams into other countries for various purposes. One such as those had kidnapped her. Troublesome, but it wasn't Minato's job to take them down, 

"…" She realized her lengthy pause. "He could…"

"He could find a seal to help." Said Kakashi. "The Uzumaki clan had a lot of those, after all. If we manage to reach him in time, he could…" The young ninja looked down, as if thinking that the very idea he was proposing was absurd. Not that this transpired into his body language or voice, but after all that time she spent on missions with him, she knew when he wasn't confident about a matter. "… It's a shot in the dark, but I will pick every option available before I even consider killing you, and if it comes to it, I may as well check all the other options again."

"Kakashi, I'm…" Rin pondered. Could this work? Their teacher hadn't been there in time to save him, and while he was a deadly shinobi who would, at the very least, be known by countless future generations, he was still a human very much capable of failing. Could he just happen to carry a seal to help her? She found herself somewhat believing that, as a sort of reflex to their days with him as a teacher, where Minato was, more often than not, seen as the one person capable of fixing whatever mess her teammates (and sometimes Rin) had managed to get himself into. It was the equivalent of clinging to the leg of a parent while facing the unknown, but then again, could Kakashi be blamed? Rin wasn't exactly asking him to do something easy to him, and she had her issues with outright killing herself. Could he do it? Not likely. Was she very potentially setting up for a crushing disappointment with the discovery that their particular problem was something that not even their seemingly-almighty teacher could solve? Very likely. But alas, she could only really try to put aside her fear and hope for the best, once more. "I trust you but if he can't…"

"We'll see about that." Kakashi leaned forward. "And we'll do that pretty soon. If you're not tired, then we could try to cross the rest of the distance here and now. It works to our advantage." The youth started to advance. "With the blockade, it'll be harder and harder to disguise ourselves as merchants and escape that way." He nodded to her and she nodded back silently. Just in case an enemy ninja was listening, it could be good to trick them. The actual plan wasn't that much different, though. They'd meet up with a spy from the Leaf, who'd bring them on a vessel close to the coasts. "And it'll give us more time to work on the seal."

"If they receive the scroll." She allowed some of her new-found pessimism to slip into her reply. "It's their land, here, and their trackers are feared for a reason, right? N-not that I'm saying…"

"Some other teams have already made it out." Said Kakashi. "And I've prepared for this. If they intend to chase us, then their own country will turn against them." He glanced at her. "Let's go."

"Wait." Rin sat up. "What about you? You haven't been sleeping." The young girl frowned. "Aren't you exhausted? You've been running across the country preparing and…"

"I'll sleep on the boat." He opened the door outside, and she figured that arguing was pointless. Kakashi checked the surroundings first, briefly lifting his headband to see better, and then motioned for her. Rin stretched her arms one last time and descended first. Kakashi, meanwhile, pulled a few explosive tags out of a pouch on his hip and placed them around the hideout. Once he was done, he walked unto the tree and closed the door but ever so slightly left it open just a little. With some amount of luck, a bunch of overconfident hunters would notice it, assume that their enemies made a rookie mistake, and get punished for it rather promptly but she was hardly holding her breath. Those from the mist were very prudent, after all. 

Once he was done, Kakashi leap down next to her and nodded. "Stay close to me." He said, and she could only agree. He then swiped at the area: A rainy, mist-covered forest, apparently devoid of animal life since she couldn't hear anything around her, except for the sound of their feet treading upon the mud or the beating of her own heart. The mist wasn't powered by some Jutsu, but it was still thick enough to prevent one without gifted eyes from seeing much in front of them. For all she knew, just beyond her scope, a dozen shinobis from the Mist were waiting, waiting for one of their prey to make a mistake before swarming them all at once. Kakashi didn't seem to find anything odd though, once again briefly resorting to his Sharingan before putting his headband on it again.

"Let's get going."

…

Their trip had been relatively quiet so far, and they hadn't talked that much. Rin didn't find much to discuss, and Kakashi was busy with some higher matters, such as ensuring that they would not get surprised and killed by some of the most ruthless individuals on this side of the planet. While Rin was perhaps safe from any harm owing to her nature, Kakashi's Sharingan eye made him a valuable target. It's the reason why he alone was in charge of handling Rin's rescue. The other teams would have less shinobis to deal with, since the Mist would send more soldiers the way of Sakumo's son and his unique pupil. 

"… How are the other teams doing?" Rin eventually said. It wasn't wise to talk, and she knew it better than anyone, but the isolation back at the facility had really made her yearn for some human contact. Kakashi seemed aware of that but unfortunately, he couldn't quite answer her in full, lest his focus ended up pulled away. And with their circumstances and general job, being distracted for one second could end up catastrophic. 

"I don't know. We do not send messages to one another or else they'd catch it." Spoke Kakashi. "We'll figure it out once we're out of here," Rin grumbled a little at her mess-up. Of course, they'd avoid sending messages. "But they should be fine. Kiri's elites groups are dealing with Kumo on their shores, and we know how to avoid the hunters." He held a hand out and then jumped down, prompting the curious young girl to drop next to him. Kakashi gestured up above, and Rin had to squint before she noticed the wires on the trees up above, which prompted her to widen her eyes.

"They-"

"No. I'm not seeing anything." He said. "And if they were using their mist Jutsu, then the mist would be thicker." Rin nodded, her question having been preemptively answered. "But let's get moving quickly." Kakashi waited for Rin and then they both began to jump across the forest, though they now stuck to the ground. The White Fang's son now kept his Sharingan unconcealed, to better detect incoming traps. Rin frowned, but didn't object, though she wondered how long the young jônin could keep it up. While she was certainly the rescued person in that scenario, she'd rather not have Kakashi collapse on her after wasting too much chakra.

Kakashi's Sharingan proved to be efficient at detecting traps, and the youth would gesture whenever a trap appeared. Rin wondered if the ninjas were aware of their path and messing with them, or if they had simply littered their landscape with traps just in case. Ninjas from the land of the mist were probably bestowed with maps or at least general knowledge of where not to go. With nothing to say, to avoid distracting her teammate, Rin simply contemplated her surroundings. The forest of the mist looked pretty close to those near Konoha, but... eerier, owing to the seeming absence of any wildlife. The young medic grimaced, hoping that in all her life, she'd never be forced to step foot unto the country again.

Kakashi stopped eventually and turned around, gesturing twice with his hands. "We're near." It reads. Indeed, there were some faint lights on the horizon, which also meant that the mist was getting weaker. Rin made a similar gesture, indicating that she understood fine. Then, she took a small gourd out of her belt and gave it to the youth. He briefly stared down at it, pulled his mask down, and quickly drank it before his eyes widened. "It's empty." He said. "I should manage the rations better."

"Good thing we're near a lake, heh?" Rin pointed out, with an amused chuckle. Kakashi remained dour, stoically pulling his mask up.

"I'll do it." He said, but Rin pulled her hand up. 

"Don't worry, it won't take much time." She quickly kneeled near the lake and filled the gourd with one sweep. They probably wouldn't need it, but Rin felt like contributing instead of letting Kakashi do all the work. And while she had done her job quickly, she couldn't help but stare at the surface of the lake itself, either out of hidden vanity or because she hadn't seen her face for a long while. 

Her purple markings were gone, her skin was pale, one wouldn't need a magical eye to see the bags under her eyes… Rin winced and prepared to simply depart, but then the rippling water slowly changed her portrait. Slowly but surely, she could see her face be affected by the small waves of the lake, catching her attention and delaying her return to Kakashi. Under her very eyes, her features began to change. Her pale skin grew whiter and paler until it looked like chalk, her tired eyes began to look more and more like empty slits and her mouth twisted into a thin red line, messy brown hair became white and slicked backward and red marks, akin to waves, appeared on her cheek.

The chûnin's eyes widened slowly, but it was only up until the part where the hidden mist's symbol appeared that she realized what she had gotten herself into. She immediately tried to withdraw but, with much fracas, a hand shot out of the water, wrapping itself around her throat before she could even react. In front of her, emerging out of the water, a shinobi in full armor was present. He chuckled sinisterly as Rin struggled in his grasp. Had Rin tried to pay a closer look, she would've noticed that only his top half was emerging out of the water, while the rest seemed to be almost fused to the lake itself. 

"Got you!" .With this childish exclamation, the attacker moved to grab the handle of the sword strapped to his back but Kakashi interrupted him, appearing next to Rin and slashing the ninja in half. Rin winced, excepting for the odd shinobi to be cut in half, but while he was indeed slashed by the blade, the man did not let go, and his upper body briefly took the consistency of water, allowing the sword to pass through the enemy without harming him.. "You're wasting your time!" He signaled to the man with the Sharingan. Identifying his enemy, Kakashi decided to stab at the fist holding his friend, forcing the ninja to "liquefy" his limb to avoid being stabbed. This freed Rin and she immediately backed off, angering the ninja, who decided to take some distance before pointing two fingers at the chûnin.

Kakashi proved thankfully faster. Grabbing his kunai, he used his raikiri to surround it in lightning and threw it at the enemy ninja. Proving too slow to react in time, the man was hit and his ability failed to protect him: The kunai struck, and the shinobi screamed before melting in a grey puddle, spreading across the lake. Rin stared in horror, grasping her neck and breathing in, while Kakashi turned around and picked her up by the hand. "Are you alright?" He asked. She'd ask him just what happened, but a few shapes emerged in the mist. "We're going to need to run, follow me!" Rin glanced at the puddle one last time, steeled herself, and just like that both were off. As usual, Kakashi led, fully using his Sharingan to perceive his foes. Not all their foes were chasing them: Some arrived from below, or above, and some even directly ran at them, hoping to herd them into another direction. About three ninjas were running right at the prodigy from forward, while several more were heading for the other directions bar the west. The prodigy, rather boldly, decided not to walk into a trap and drew his sword before speeding forth, prompting Rin to accelerate her pace.

With speed almost comparable to their master, Kakashi appeared past the first hunter and performed a masterful slash of his sword, using a type of swordsmanship (supposedly) unique to the Hidden Cloud to swiftly cut both his enemies in half. The third didn't appear to care, only leaping towards the defenseless Rin to seize her, but he found himself short a lower body when Kakashi's sword carved straight through him, cutting through his (light as it was) armor as if it were mere butter. Rin's eyes widened but hurried on, while the three hunters fell to the grass below. "Amazing!" The young woman glanced at her teammate's back, and despite everything, some envy crept up a little. Was she going to be his damsel in distress? She had made peace with their difference in talent, but her sense of pride and general caring for the young man demanded that she help him, instead of staying in his shadow.

When yet another enemy emerged out of the mist, hanging above them, Rin saw her occasion, hoping that the time spent in isolation hadn't affected her yet. To her agreeable surprise, the hand seals came off almost naturally, and the chakra built up in her chest before going up. "Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu!" The youth spat a ball-shaped projectile at high speed, seemingly taking the hunter by surprise with her willingness to fight back. Stuck in mid-air and unable to call on a Jutsu in time, the masked assassin was hit full force and sent flying uncontrollably right back into the mist. Seeing her success, the youth pumped her fist. "Yes!"

"Good work!" Kakashi spoke quickly, having noticed her attack. Around them, the hunters were still chasing, but the two shinobis and willingness to fight back while escaping seemed to confuse them. Or, as Rin thought, they were barely putting up a challenge to try to get them to head back to Konoha. This worried her a little, but her teammate did not dwell on it, quickly nodding down and holding up his hand. After two seconds, he swung his hand down and leaped down instead of forward. Rin followed suit, adapting to his trajectory, and wasn't even surprised to see the ground under Kakashi's feet make way for a tiny tunnel that quickly swallowed the two, though it was barely big enough for the hunters to fit in.

"Good." He commented. Both he and Rin slid a little on the tunnel and the run continued. Seeing that they'd be disadvantaged, the hunters gave up on chasing and tried to go for a different tactic: Not two seconds after their entrance into the tunnel, a strong stream of water poured in, quickly threatening to overtake the rather narrow structure. This didn't seem to worry Kakashi, who motioned to the left and slammed his shoulder through another trap door. Both youths emerged in another tunnel, but heading upstairs, somewhat diminishing the threat of the rising water as both youths made their way up top and burst out of the ground. Luckily, Kakashi had gone through some hoops to ensure that the hunters wouldn't find this particular exit, and no disagreeable surprises were waiting for them. A few seconds after their dynamic exit, water poured out of the hole. The white-haired youth no longer had reason to care for it though and on the way to the next tree branch, he quickly cut a string in two with a swing of his sword. In the distance, beyond the trees, several small explosions pierced the veil of the mist. 

The two ninjas from Konoha didn't take to the branches though, but they could bet that traps had been planted in the grass as well. Instead, they effortlessly jumped from trunk to trunk, needing only a slight nod or a gesture to understand the other. The lights got closer and closer, and Rin dared to imagine that she still had something of a future ahead of her. Even Kakashi, perhaps mistakenly, glanced back. His eyes, that had been serious for the entire trip, had a casual glint of "told you so" in them. 

Rin smiled.

Then a shadow fell over her face and her eyes widened in panic. "Kakashi!" To his credit, the youth immediately leaped to the side instead of blindly charging into whatever was in front of him, and this saved him from ramming into yet another white-haired, masked lunatic. The woman (going by the hair), who had one hand held out, tilted her head when Kakashi charged his raikiri into yet another knife and hurled it at her. Seeing what he was doing, the inhabitant of the mist tilted her head to the left, letting the kunai sail past through a tree, and moved her leg to kick at him. While tired from his acrobatic, Kakashi wasn't weakened enough not to react to such a simple blow, and he took a stance, intending to grab and quickly twist the leg. It imploded into water on impact though, causing Kakashi to reflexively close his eyes and move back. This gave the elite hunter more than enough time to close the hand she had meant to use to seemingly capture him, and use it to punch him in the face, hurling him out of the wood and into the open! 

Luckily, the ninja had been smart enough to raise his arms just in case, and the armor on his forearm dampened the blow somewhat. Rin leaped out of the woods to join him, while the mysterious Hozuki opted to stay in the woods, staring at them and she held her hands out, pointing two fingers at each before firing some fast water projectiles right at them. "Get behind me!" Kakashi decided to go in front of Rin, swinging his sword to deflect the projectile aimed at her, and dodging his own. Without needing to be told to do so, Rin leaped aside and so did Kakashi, dodging the projectiles sent their way. They were wild, but inaccurate when it came to Rin, though Kakashi was currently partaking in acrobatics to avoid getting a punctured leg. 

From what Rin gathered, they were in an open, rock-filled area, with a small lake peering through the mist. At the edge of her vision, she could spot countless shadows beginning to emerge out of the forest. Her jônin friend didn't seem concerned though. Drawing a smoke pellet out of a pouch, he immediately threw it down, covering the two in smoke. Presumably, his Sharingan would prevent them from being blinded by the smoke.

"Shadow clones!" Kakashi created about two clones of his, and one of them then proceeded to perform a simple Jutsu to transform into Rin. The real deal, however, glanced at her rescuer, noticing his ragged breathing: Firing two Raikiris and keeping his Sharingan active was tense on his chakra reserves, so using two shadow clones… Still, she knew that he wouldn't stop now, so she let him send the clones in the direction and both then followed suit, as a way to confuse the hunters. While they stuck together, for the most part, the two groups began to separate, each heading in their direction. Kakashi's gesture, though, indicated that they were likely going to head into yet another small tunnel, in a bid to outrun their persistent foes. As for the clones, they were boundlessly heading into their dooms, but still did their best to dodge techniques, making it difficult to tell which was which.

"Let-" Before he could even complete his sentence, light illuminated their surroundings and the tunnel went up in flames, completely engulfed by a rather potent explosion, its mere shockwave being enough to knock the two young shinobis off their feet and send them sprawling to the ground, disoriented. This caused the clones to glance back in surprise, distracting them for one second. And this short window was all that a random hunter needed to throw six sharps needles in their legs, hitting the clones and causing them to vanish. 

"No…" Kakashi's stupor got him to be distracted too, long enough for the same hunter to jab some needles at him from afar. Recovering quickly, Rin threw her arm in front of him, letting the projectiles pierce through her flesh, only letting out a gasp of pain and surprise when the pain from the attack proved to be above what she had anticipated, causing the chûnin to fall to her knee. "Rin!" 

"I'm fine!" Rin lied. She almost moved to take them off but remembered that the bleeding would be worse if she did so. Kakashi came to a similar conclusion, and just cut the needles in half. "Just run, Kakashi!" She almost pleaded. Meanwhile, out of the fire, another Hunter-nin emerged. This one's mask was slightly more expressive than the others, bearing a wide deranged "grin" on her black mask. It must've been the leader, since the other ninjas stopped their approach upon her arrival. She also wore a heavy black cloak over her body, making it impossible to tell what kind of weapons she was wielding, or what she even looked like. Her hair was as dark as the rest of the ensemble, but cut short.

"Your eye's ours, ninja." She muttered. "The girl will go if you surrender and accept your fate. She'll be returned to your village safely. We have no further use for her."

"I'll have to decline." Kakashi held his sword out. "I know what you're up to, and I won't give this Sharingan away." In answer to his defiance, the masked kunoichi chuckled a little, looked down, and shook her head before taking three steps forwards, causing the Leaf ninjas to back off. All around them, the hunters left the forest to walk into the cove, or simply emerged out of its lake. A few simply emerged out of the mist and used chakra to walk on water, but some others emerged out of the lake, like the hunter from earlier. 

"Well, it doesn't matter. We'll get that Sharingan and the girl will escape… But the death of her savior will have left her too traumatized and incoherent to make sense, and the officials in Konoha will ignore her warnings until it's too late." 

Rin frowned intensely and finally managed to build up the resolve to grab a kunai out of her pouch. The hunter tilted her head, perhaps thinking that the chûnin was about to attack her, but didn't particularly react when Rin put the sharp weapon straight to her own throat. "If I die, then this beast inside of me will succumb too, and you won't get to the village!" The white-haired youth turned around in shock.

"Rin, don't!"

"Oh-oh?" The woman took some more steps forwards. "Well, how can I stop you when you are protected by the hero of the Sharingan himself? Do so." 

Kakashi was already wheeling around to try to stop her, and Rin didn't have much time. She thought of her parents, her teammate, her fallen friend, the love of her life, and paid said love a final look. "I'm sorry, Kakashi!" Not enough time to say what she would've wanted to say to him, but it was all or nothing. Rin held her hand out and jammed the kunai…

…Or would've done so if her hand didn't freeze up all of a sudden, preventing her from doing so. Looking at her surroundings, there had been no restraint placed on her, and Kakashi only managed to grab her hand about one second after it had stopped. "We'll escape together, Rin!" He said. "There's no need to kill yourself! I'll… I'll get you a way out, and Minato…" A shrill laugh interrupted the both of them, and the hunter approached a bit more. 

"So much for that "Will of Fire" that you Konoha ninjas live by." She moved a gloved hand to her collar and pressed on a little button on it. The cloth promptly fell off her, revealing garb more typical of a regular hunter, consisting of a pinstriped outfit with a blue haori and a red sash wrapped around the waist. More important than that though, she had a long sword, which she immediately drew. "I'll take your eye, and the girl will go to Konoha regardless of her intentions." As she spoke, a few of her companions joined her.

The scene replays in her mind.

She's stranded alone in enemy territory, enemy shinobis from the Hidden Mist are swarming, ready to finish off a duo of Leaf shinobis, and Kakashi, equipped with his Sharingan, stand defiantly against the horde, his hand crackling with the lightning of his emblematic Jutsu. "Run, Rin! I'll hold them off!" He shouts at her, right as the enemy shinobis run at them, swarming like monsters out of the mist.

She screams at him to go, and not to die for her sake, but the noise from the Jutsu blocks her out. This time, though, she realizes that even if she escapes, then the hunters will catch her and use some genjutsu to wipe her memories again. Kakashi has to live, and so does Konoha… but not her, not now that she has that beast inside her. But if her own hand cannot slay her, then perhaps…  
Rin closed her eye, hoping that he'd forgive her (or himself) and prepared to do what must be done. She thought of everyone again but does not allow a second of hesitation to potentially claim her this time. Preparing to jump, she could only ponder on meeting him in the afterlife… If there is one, that is, though she was going to find that out soon enough.

Then, a yellow flash ended it all, bursting into the scene before Rin could even begin to jump, and Kakashi himself is forced to cancel his Raikiri, seemingly leaving him wide open to his enemies. However, both youths know what the yellow flash means, and both know that they don't need to care about their enemies anymore: By the time their eyes re-opens, the attacking hunters are left sprawled on the floor, unconscious, with only their leader still hanging on. A flash of lightning briefly revealed that her mask had been shattered, revealing her rather terrified facial expression seconds before she joins her teammates.

By that point though, they both didn't care much for her. Both were too busy peering at the golden-haired ninja who had saved them both, and completely changed their fortunes in a single second. Despite bursting into the scene very recently, the elite ninja's analyzing skills allowed him to quickly identify the situation, and he turned around to smile at his two students. "Looks like I made it in time." He quipped. "I've been briefed about everything."

"Sensei!" Rin choked up a little, struggling not to cry in joy. "How… how did you…" Minato pointed to a marking on Kakashi's forearm armor. 

"I put it on him in case he'd need help. In hindsight, I should've done the same for you." He said, regretfully. "I've taken measures to help you, Rin, but I'm going to have to take care of these guys." He turned around and glared at the hunters, who likely felt very much out of luck. Their silent, intimidating behavior had fallen to the wayside, and those who weren't repeating Minato's moniker over and over in shock were, wisely, running for the hills, either by merging into the lake or using their legs. 

Kakashi turned to face Rin, perhaps preparing to inform her that he was right, but he stopped, surprised at the sight of the chûnin bawling her eyes out in joy. He had made it in time. "Thank you… thank you…" She managed to spell out, barely being able to say anything because of the tears. Minato smiled for a second or two and held his two hands out, holding his trusty kunai.

"Give me three seconds." 

Then, there was nothing but a flash.

…

A/N: Hey! Welcome to this fic! I don't know what to say, but I hope that you'll enjoy reading it! The idea of a what-if where Rin survives has always intrigued me, and I guess it had intrigued me enough to write a fic about it!

This is what I've been working on for a little while. I plan to do a chapter every three weeks, or maybe a month, but either way, I hope that you'll find this to be an enjoyable read! I'm looking forward to reviews and the likes, and I hope that you guys will enjoy the story, though of course, if there's any criticism to share, I appreciate it! I love reviews!

What will happen in a world such as this? What consequences will there be? I guess we'll see that next month! 

See ya later!


	2. Not a monster.

Shinku Yuhi peered at the land of the Hidden Mist in the horizon, hand cupped over his eyes to better observe the misty sea below him. While his sight wasn't as good as the fabled pupils of the Hyuga or Uchiha, he would be damned if he wasn't going to look out for trouble, especially given the complicated task that had been assigned on him. "There's a boat arriving. 6 people. Be careful in handling it." Without taking his eyes off from across the sea, he gestured at some young genins, and they immediately set out to receive the small "fishing" boat sent at them.

Shinku sighed briefly: Those genins definitely ought to be anywhere else but here, next to this land of murderous swordsmen and stealthy assassins. The Hidden Mist wasn't as dangerous to Konoha as the Hidden Cloud, but their brand of brutality was still enough to unnerve the instructor, who had walked the Earth long enough to gather sordid tales about them. The idea that young children, teenagers, and common civilians had been taken away by them… He could only shudder and thank the heavens that Kurenai was safe behind Konoha's walls.

"You should leave the observation to someone else, my friend." Shinku didn't bother to turn around to greet Hizashi, a member of the eminent Hyuga clan. Despite his young age, the youth had proved himself quite competent in the art of war, and had been made a Jônin just last year. Shinku thought that it was rather hazardous to send someone with such prestigious pupils so close to Kiri, but the young man had promised that he wouldn't try anything foolish, and would only be there to peer through whatever fog barrier the devils on the continent would attempt to put up. "I think that some of the genins here could afford to have someone to order them around."

"There isn't much I can do here." Admitted Shinku. He glanced at Hizashi and was quite reassured to see that the Hyuga kept his prestigious pupils active. "How many have we retrieved so far?"

"Enough for the operation to be a success." Hizashi smiled a little, trying to reassure his stressed friend. "The other vessels have gotten as many people as they can afford to house, and we should be at our limit too. We should head back before Kiri get itself together enough to strike back. Our ships will not be able to stand up to a full-out attack, and we're getting close to running out of time."

"I see…" Shinku nodded wisely. Konoha's tactics had been rather simple: They had Shinobis be carried to the Hidden Mist through neutral ships and then had said Shinobis strike various important structures for the country, forcing its military to focus on the threat at home while some ships would sneakily arrive near its coasts. While half of the "invasion" force would-be saboteurs, the other half would deliver the captured ninjas and civilians before carrying them out into the ships. This was rather costly in terms of manpower, of course, but the Leaf refused to allow the Mist to cowardly get away with its sneak attack while they were busy fending off attacks on the North and South.

Of course, not everything had gone smoothly. Hizashi and Shinku both had to see empty ships, with nothing but blood inside of them, eerily floats towards them, and they also both knew that they would get easily crushed if the Mist noticed them. Neither men wanted to be here any second longer than they needed to, though it sounded like they would soon be heading home.

"Any loss on the way?"

"A few." Hizashi frowned. "Kakeburo, Fumashi, Duy…" The youth looked on as the Genins cautiously greeted their fellows from the leaf, first checking any abnormality with the powerful eyes of a nearby Hyuga (be it chakra-wise or through explosives) and then either hauling them on board or tying their boats to the larger vessel and dragging them along, while other genins would then proceed to take care of the bombs or, if their chakra itself had been tampered with, would leave them alone and wait for further help. The whole process needed to be slow or methodical, since even a single explosion could doom everyone aboard. Luckily, being a ninja required one to be cautious with every step. "Those are heavy losses… Though I've heard Duy's son, Gai, and his teammates swear up and down that he took down some of the swordsmen of the mist." Hizashi said, trying to cheer up his teammate.

"Now is hardly the time for joking!" Shinku replied, sternly. Hizashi didn't press on any further. Before another topic could be engaged, both men were approached by a tall man, wearing the usual jônin-get up but slightly customized. The vest was open, for one, and the pockets were filled full of candies and whatever food small enough to be crammed into them. His black hair was styled with a spiky ponytail and he bore a few bandages on his face, including one on his stubble. The Nara bothered to join his feet together and stand up straight for one second before slouching forward, hand raised. "Miyu!" Shinku frowned. "How many times will I need to remind you to act fitting of your position?"

"The other ships have sent a message. They're leaving." Miyu glanced at the continent. "They suggest we do the same. Nearly everyone's been retrieved, or is confirmed dead." Shinku and Hizashi both listened. "However… Kakashi Hatake hasn't been retrieved." The information caused both men to either frown or gasp a little in shock. "At the very least, he hasn't joined with the other vessels, and they've asked if we did. They're leaving anyway though. The latest reports indicate that Kiri's going to be coming at us soon, and we need to prepare our coasts against a naval invasion." Then, the jônin sighed, scratching the back of his head while doing so. "Geez, this military stuff is always so tense. Why didn't I get on a cruise ship?"

"Because you have a duty, soldier!" Shinku intended for Hizashi to join him, but the Hyuga chuckled lightly at his partner's behavior, before adapting to the seriousness of the situation. If Kakashi hadn't joined up, then something had went wrong obviously.

"Kakashi has sent a message with rather troubling news beforehand… Nonetheless, it would be dire if he were to get caught. His Sharingan would be a precious tool for the enemy. And, of course, the death of a young girl is always to be mourned." Said the man with the pale eyes, desiring to play the good cop to his stern friend's "bad cop". "Unfortunately, we cannot go ahead and rescue him. I can only pray that, if he's alive, then he'll manage to find a ship to bring them both out of…" He stopped himself mid-sentence and silently walked over to the railing, glancing as hard as he could at the mist before activating his Byakugan. A Hyûga interrupting a conversation and activating their Byakugan was, naturally, a bad sign, so his colleagues from the Leaf immediately focused on the matter at hand. "Something is approaching towards us, fast!"

"Shit!" Miyu took two steps backward. "Is that an enemy attack?" Shinku glanced at him but turned his eyes on the fog, noticing a few flashes of light.

"No, it doesn't fit with any… It's!" Hizashi stopped. "It's… three people. And one of them has an enormous amount of chakra." The man then spread his hands to push both men away from him. Then, before both men could react in any manner, a kunai flew some meters over them. Hizashi was the only one with the reflexes to guess who the kunai belonged to, seconds before, in a blinding flash, Minato himself appeared, grabbing the kunai and dropping to the ground rather stylishly. His other arm held an unconscious Kakashi and a confused Rin, both having seemingly been single-handedly carried by the blond man.

"Phew." Minato gently put them both on the ground, and Rin let go of Kakashi, whom she had seemingly held for the duration of the trip. The youth was nearly unconscious thanks to his usage of several Jutsus, but was still slightly conscious. Rin was fully conscious but stunned, admiring her surroundings in utter confusion and taking a little while before she pulled herself up. Their teacher, after seeing that both were okay, turned towards the trio, though he was currently facing the entire crew of very confused shinobis. "Hey." He greeted.

"M-Minato!" Shinku dropped to his knees. "You… I thought you were taking care of a mission up north!"

"Somebody else took it before I could, I'm afraid. Guess I can't be the fastest at everything." Minato helped Rin on her feet and gestured to Miyu. "Kakashi is going to need to be brought to some medics, could you do that please?" The jônin sat still for a while and, like a machine, stood up straight and closed his jacket, though the candies were unfortunately unable to be put away in time.

"Of course! Sir! Right away"! The soldier picked up Kakashi, treating the young man like porcelain, and brought him out. Minato then gestured to Shinku.

"We need to leave immediately. I've managed to sow some chaos but it won't hold them back for too long." Shinku nodded and promptly got to work, heading out to inform his crew. This left Hizashi. Unlike everyone else (bar some clan members), his gaze was focused on somebody else but the army-ending fastest man alive, opting to peer at the more common medic instead. After all, his blessed eyes could easily spot the monstrous amount of chakra present within her: It was so overwhelmingly large that he felt like a mere ant contemplating an entire city from its hill. Minato noticed this, and so did Rin, who looked up at the elite ninja with a look of confusion, at first, and then understanding. Minato, quick as ever, got between them though. "Hizashi, please, warn your clan members not to share the… news and follow me downstairs. I'm going to need some space."

Minato nodded to Rin and both began to descend. Soon afterward, the jônin descended, having told his fellow members of clan not to tell of what they saw. While he was from the side branch (and thus, in the opinion of some members of the main branch, forbidden from giving out orders to them), invoking Minato's orders had been enough to placate most of them. Once done, Hizashi began to follow the Yellow Flash, who was already getting prepared for the ritual. Out of respect for Minato's decision to avoid a leak though, he didn't question the sudden overwhelming amount of chakra in her body. A room had been "rented", and Hizashi had been posted in front of it, arms folded. "I'm sorry, you cannot enter. The enemy has placed a powerful trapping seal on this girl and Minato will need to perform one of his own to undo it." The ninjas seemed fine with it, but the crew was already too busy about leaving to truly be curious. It would be after the departure that things might get a bit suspicious, but Hizashi was confident that the problem would be solved by now.

"Thanks for your help, I'm just going to need your help one more time." Minato opened the door slightly, and the Hyuga nodded to him. When Minato gestured at him to enter, the young Jonin did so, being surprised to find Rin near a table, with the rest of the room being otherwise barren. Not knowing how to reassure the upset youth, the jônin greeted her with a nod and smiled reassuringly. Minato, meanwhile, prepared himself. "Rin and Kakashi have said that the Three-Tails has been sealed within her. Do you confirm that?"

"Y-yes." Hizashi shuddered. "This mass of chakra is unreal. Far, far larger than the combined chakra of everyone on this ship, you included." It felt like a tsunami, too, one big enough to easily smash an entire city at that. He didn't even dare to peer at it anymore, fearful of losing his mind. Only Rin's presence prevented him from putting up a more vivid description. "But… it doesn't make sense. Yagura has perfect control of his tailed beast, why would he trap it within her? Doing so would kill him."

"We'll figure that out later. What matters is containing it." Minato sighed. "I'm sorry, Rin, it may hurt but…"

"It… it doesn't matter." The chûnin nodded. "I'd die to prevent it from being freed." The conviction in her voice, despite her terror, impressed both shinobis. "I don't mind the pain, so as long as I cease being a danger!"

"You're a brave shinobi, Rin!" Minato said, after a couple of seconds. "Kiri has placed a seal. I can override it with a seal and ensure that the beast will have a stronger cage." He said. "It's going to be complex. Hizashi, I'm going to need your help on this. The reason why you're seeing this much chakra." He pointed. "Is because the seal is deliberately weak. If I succeed with mine, then you'll be able to have an easier time with it."

"I see." Hizashi nodded. "Are you going to perform the Eight-Trigrams seal?"

Minato nodded. "You know a bit about seals, heh? Alright. We should start now." Hizashi faced his fear and turned on his Byakugan, and Rin quickly made peace with herself, lifting part of her shirt to reveal the slowly-vanishing seal (though it had barely begun doing so) on her stomach. Minato, no doubt feeling a little awkward, prepared the Jutsu and placed his hand on the seal…

…

The birds chirped outside, the wind blew softly, entering her room through a window kindly left ever so slightly open by a nurse, and the sunbathed her in its warmth, though she had to angle herself to avoid having its glare on her eye. All the better to read up on that tome that Kushina had so kindly bought for her. A bunch of sweets had been placed on the table next to the bed, along with a piece of paper encouraging her to get well soon. She could recognize Kakashi's writing (neat as ever), Minato's, his wife Kushina's (easily the largest, and it had seemingly been written with tomato sauce) and plenty of others.

She had been surprised to find something that looked like the Third Hokage's writing on it, though the man was humble enough not to make it overshadow the rest. Rin didn't feel like she was quite worth the honor of receiving such a message, but she appreciated it. The young girl grabbed a piece of candy and then proceeded to open the book. Oh, had the new version been released in her absence? The Assassin and the Dragon Prince had ended with a rather detestable cliffhanger and she had been eager for a sequel. Thanking Kushina for remembering Rin's tastes in books, the chûnin began to read, occasionally eating another piece of candy.

After half an hour of peace and quiet, someone knocked on the door, prompting Rin to put down the book and stare at it, a bit caught off-guard. "Erm, yes." The medic fiddled with the candies to make it look like she didn't pick too much into them. "You may enter!" Upon receiving confirmation, her sensei opened the door, nodding to her and closing it behind him. While he was doing so, she managed to notice that some bulky-looking men had been stationed in front of her room, causing the youth to put a finger on her chin in suspicion.

Minato nodded to her and took a chair, sitting close to her. Rin was surprised to find her teacher looking awkward, of all things, and sat up a little, putting the book aside. "Is there something wrong?" She asked, concerned, before being struck by a sudden realization that caused her to put her hand on her mouth, eyes widened in shock. "Is Kakashi?!"

"What do you m... Oh! Kakashi's recovered." Minato scratched the back of his head and smiled. "I told him to take it easy but he's on a mission right now, heh…"

"Really?" Rin frowned and wagged her finger at her teacher. "Well, you better tell him to take a break the next time you meet, or I'm going to be chiding him!" Minato chuckled a little and nodded, raising his hand as if taking orders from a superior.

"Oh, where am I by the way? I've peered at the window but I'm not seeing Konoha." Rin asked.

"You're in a "military hospital" at the Land of Fire. You and the other Genins were carted there since some of you would need recovery and the Leaf would be too far away." He said, she noticed the way he talked about the hospital but shrugged it off for now. "You've awakened pretty recently, haven't you? Rin, what do you remember of the past days."

"Well!" Rin smiled. "Kakashi and you saved me from those ninjas of the Hidden Mist, and we were fleeing from them because they had kidnapped me." She said.

"That's true… Rin, though, I'm sorry to ask, but do you remember why they kidnapped you and then chased you?"

"Yeap! They…" Rin's cheery demeanor stopped instantly and the youth looked down at the ground. "I…" Minato placed a hand on her shoulder, and nodded, as if telling her to take it easy. The chûnin smiled gratefully and tried to remember. "There was a room… I had been tied to an altar I think and those people had me surrounded. The room was… it was on an enormous mass of water, I think, like an island, and below there were movements. The island, there were lines on it, all leading to the altar." She moved her fingers in a wavy manner. "Then, the hooded leader did some complicated hand seals and put his hand on my stomach and… and…" Rin leaned forward and grabbed her head. "I remember it! I'm the… the three tails!"

"Rin." Minato once again leaned in and tried to reassure his student. "I know that this is a very troubling thing to remember, and I wish we could've gone about this more slowly, but let's calm down, alright? Breath in, and out, slowly. I'm here, the hospital has guards, and we're an ocean apart from the Hidden Mist." While his advice was sound, Rin struggled to apply it. With every breath taken, she remembered her dirty, tiny cell deep in the Hidden Mist, or her visions of the Three-Tails's silhouette lording over an annihilated Konoha… It took her ten minutes of focus to even start sounding coherent, though Minato, to his credit, was very patient through the experience. When Rin pulled herself together, she could barely even look at him though.

"… I'm a Jinchuuriki." Rin looked at the palms of her hands and clenched them before hugging herself. She had heard of those particular shinobis, hosts of beasts capable of leveling cities and mountains with nothing but a blast. Because of the beast inside of them, they were often rejected by the villagers, or treated with disdain. A few had managed to rise to the ranks (like Yagura, speaking of him) but for most… "I'm… I'm… a danger now." She looked down. "If I make one wrong move, I…"

"You're Rin Nohara." Said Minato. "You may be a Jinchuuriki, but to me, you're still a brilliant, kind-hearted girl and a member of my team." Rin sniffed a little and stared at Minato, almost in disbelief. "It'd be hypocritical for me to reject you over that considering a certain someone, heh." She smiled a little, but there was a hollowness behind it that even a blind man could notice. "And when you told Kakashi about it, he still did his very best to save you, didn't he?"

"Yes but… the rest of the village, my parents, friends, they're…"

"We'll have to keep it a secret, yes." Said Minato. "We've said that you were affected by an enemy Jutsu and need some time to recover from it. But no one else will know of your status, so they won't treat you any differently."

"That's good to know! But…" Rin winced. "What about my life as a ninja, or-or my life in general? I'm a host now, so…" No need to be knowledgeable of the world to be aware that the Hidden Mist would try to recuperate their Tailed Beast and Rin would now have to spend her entire life keeping the Three-Tails under lock and key. She especially kept thinking of the last part: It made her head spin, and her brain repeated the information over and over, all while realizing that this was now her reality and future. Even away from the battlefield, she would be fighting a foe who'd try to use every weakness in her to break out and kill everyone she loves, and since extractions were fatal, then the young girl would only ever get rid of her Bijuu upon death, be it at enemy hands or due to the tides of time. When the information finally registered, Rin did nothing, staring at the blank white wall of her room while a wave of despair crashed over her.

"YESSSSS…"

The chûnin, without warning, slammed back into her bed with an empty expression, grabbed her pillow and pressed it against the upper part of her face, leaving her nose uncovered to make sure that her teacher wouldn't mistakenly believe that she was trying to off herself somehow. This did seem to shock Minato, and he looked away, regretful of being the bearer of bad news. It took Rin a lot of courage to get up and pull the pillow before staring silence, with quivering lips and watery eyes.

"Your life will change, yes, but we will guide you through it. I, Kakashi, Lord Hokage the Third, Kushina… There's a lot of people who care about you, and your current status will not change anything about that." He held up the card with two fingers. "I'm going to be rather blunt, yes, a hard life lies ahead, and yes things may get difficult, but you're not alone in this, Rin. You have your friends and teachers to help you with this." Said Minato. "I… I think that Kushina would be able to say it better than I, but it's perfectly possible to find happiness even as a host." He could only sigh, aware that his words could very well sound hollow. He wasn't a host, after all. He was sure that Kushina would find the words but inviting her to the hospital had not been allowed since she was effectively a civilian and her being out of the village was already nigh-unacceptable for the elders.

"Maybe…" Rin sniffed a little, and wiped her eyes slightly, though they immediately got wet again. "Teacher?" The youth held her arms out. "I… I know you care, but can I just ask you to hug me?"

Minato looked a little surprised at the demand but understood it well. "Of course you can." He said, bracing himself. He did well, since Rin nearly slammed into his chest to cry her heart out. The elite ninja accepted it and allowed his student to vent her feelings, simply hugging her while the girl tearfully came to terms with her new condition.

…

He needed only a single thought to instantly cross kilometers, going from the entrance of the "military hospital" straight to the very heart of Konoha by bending the very rules of time and space. By now, the Yellow Flash was almost uninterested in the golden dimension that he briefly was transported across to perform the Jutsu, calmly navigating through it at mind-bending speed and popping up in front of two very confused guards. "W-whoah!" Said one. "Minato! Erm, you-" The man, a Hyuga, tried to act befitting of his clan and straightened his posture up, being somewhat helped along by Minato's rather stern expression. "The Third is waiting for you."

"Thank you." Minato smiled, and quickly advanced past them, hearing the guard's buddy sarcastically compliment his fellow on his reaction to the blond's entrance. He felt a little bad about spooking the young soldier, but he had just told a young woman that her life had been irrevocably changed, and had to hold her while she cried for no less than twenty minutes. While his kind nature already made it painful to witness, the fact that Rin was one of his students tugged at Minato's heart even more. The young man frowned and made his way to the Hokage's office, hoping that the two guards stationed inside wouldn't stop him. Luckily, they seemed to be almost waiting for him: Upon his arrival, the taller one even opened the door. Unusually, both were clad in the uniforms of the special units and wore similar masks. Minato would've been surprised by this, since they tended to be sneakier than that, but he didn't quite care at this point, simply nodding at both men and entering the room.

Lord Hokage the Third stood in his chair, overlooking the village briefly before he spun it to face Minato directly. The legendary ninja saluted, trying not to be too quick about it despite his hurry, and Hiruzen nodded, putting his pipe away. Minato heard the door close behind him, and did a quick scan of the room, just in case. Having to fight so often had made him a little paranoid, and whenever he entered the room, he felt compelled to study it just in case a trap had been left for him. He did it in his own home, or within secure places or, as seen here, even within the office of the most powerful man of the continents. He hadn't excepted to find anything but he'd be damned if he ever ended up in a sticky situation because he had decided to drop his guard just for once.

And he had been wise to perform it. Had he simply looked at the Third Hokage, he would not have noticed the third person within the room: Danzo. Minato's blue eyes and Danzo's black one met briefly, but then they both looked away, as the Yellow Flash did his best not to look even more displeased than he truly was. Let it never be said that Minato disliked his fellow ninjas from the Leaf (or even from the other villages, while he was their ruthless opponent on the battlefield, none of it was personal): All of them, from that humble old woman to the arrogant upstart Uchiha, were fully worth fighting for and while he perhaps found some less approachable, it was never to the point where he'd be needlessly rude to them.

Danzo was a special case, though. His position as a veteran of two Shinobi world wars and the Leaf's society requesting its members to be polite towards their elders gave him some prestige, and he had been useful at times when it came to particularly dirty matters, but Minato couldn't push himself to respect the man for anything else. He was an old war hawk, still living by the outdated values that were taught to him as a child and following a twisted variant of the Will of Fire. How many innocents died because of his schemes? How many ninjas were pulled into his shadow, becoming tools willing to die to spread his corrupting influence and allow him to pull off his dubious schemes supposedly meant to help the Leaf? His presence in the Hokage's office was rarely a precursor for good news, and Minato, with all his kind heart, could not comprehend what motivated the Third Hokage into keeping him around. He wasn't saying that Hiruzen should execute Danzo, or even imprison him, but the bandaged man had to be kept away from power at all cost.

"How did she react to the news?" Hiruzen joined his hands together and frowned, aware of the answer he'd receive. Minato didn't see fit to simply beat around the bush.

"Badly." He admitted. "I've given her some time alone to properly think about it but it's upsetting to her, I-"

"Have you ensured that the guards are ready to intervene? The girl may decide to slit her wrists." Danzo interrupted, looking at Minato sternly. The shinobi's nerves of steel prevented him from snapping, but he had to pull himself together before speaking.

"Rin is a tough girl, and is loyal to her village. She will not do… that." Minato did his best to keep an even tone, but some anger slipped into his voice, like poison. "The guards are ready to protect her if anything happens, but there isn't anything sharp to reach anyhow and the guards are keeping watch. However, they may only intervene if they think that Rin is acting dangerously." Danzo grunted, leaning back into his seat and folding his arms.

"I wish this could've been told in a less… brutal manner." Lamented Hiruzen. "The fate of a Jinchuuriki, the curse of being alone is not something that I wish upon my worst enemy." The Third may or may not have taken the time to stare at Danzo. Minato didn't notice since he pulled his hat over his eyes before raising his head. "Unfortunately, we needed her to be aware of it quickly. Those are rather… unique circumstances, after all."

"It was the better option." Said Danzo. "We need her to adapt to her new circumstances quickly, and we cannot do that by waiting for the right moment." The bandaged man made a dismissive gesture. "When it comes to telling a Jinchuuriki about their condition, there is no "right moment" in the first place. Now that she's been told, she will come to terms with it and there are fewer chances for an accident."

Minato clicked his tongue. Danzo was right to argue that the entire situation was complicated, but all the logic and pragmatism in the world would never make Minato forget the sight of Rin helplessly crying for half an hour. And while the medic would need space, Minato thought of immediately having someone to hold her company, just so that she wouldn't feel alone… Most of the ninjas who had graduated with her were either away on a mission, wounded, wouldn't hide the truth, or had joined their ancestors… And he was scared to think of what would happen if her parents discovered the truth. Mr. and Ms. Nohara were good people, but fear and hate easily had their way with people. Minato would very much like to trust parental love to win over these feelings, but he didn't want Rin to feel even more alone than she already was.

"Thank you for carrying that burden, Minato. It must not have been easy… I was planning to tell her myself, but you and she have a deeper bond." Hiruzen sighed.

"No. I must thank you for allowing me to do it in the first place, Lord Hiruzen." Thanked the youth. "And giving me the time to do so in the first place, considering that I should be off in the front."

"Actually… that may change." Hiruzen took the time to let some gravitas sink into the room. "The war seems to be slowing down, if only slightly. Your team's success at Kannabi bridge, your efforts against Kumo, and the heroic sacrifices and victories of countless of our soldiers have pushed the war up north into a stalemate, and Kumo and Iwa are fighting to keep their territory. While they're too large for us to push now, we've formed defense lines. Furthermore, the Sand cannot mount up a large offensive with the destruction of their supply lines, and the Mist has been quiet recently, apart from their attack on our borders…"

"So we could be heading towards… ?" Minato stopped himself when Danzo grunted in derision.

"There's no peace. Only buffer periods where the villages prepare themselves for the new conflicts." Argued the elder. "And the war, while winding down, isn't quite over. Our enemies are gathering their forces again and waiting to strike yet again."

"Danzo is right." Hiruzen briefly felt the urge to wash his mouth with soap but kept it for later. "In the previous wars, those moments of downtimes served as the preludes to a great offensive. Our enemies are skirmishing, but they are preparing their elite forces for an all-or-nothing offensive in a few months, our intelligence reports. The Hidden Cloud may deploy two Jinchuurikis for the charge." The news made Minato frown. "And Iwa will be using its Explosion Corps as well. We will need you when the time comes, and I suggest that you prepare to be going to the front at an earlier time than thought."

"It should be the final offensive. Their resources will not be able to support that much warring for much longer." Danzo added. "And their populations tire of losing brothers and sisters to our blades. We will be able to make peace talks after the attack, at which point, the war will continue, underground." Minato ignored the end of Danzo's phrase and thought of the village without the threat of war. While there would still be missions and deaths, at least the kids at the academy would be finally free to spend some time doing D-ranked missions instead of being sent to die fighting opponents of superior skills. Alas, people like Obito would not be losing their lives to a pointless conflict any longer!

"Because of this brief lull, you will be given a new mission, along with Kakashi." Said Hiruzen. "You will both watch over Rin Nohara and… ensure that she adapts to her new life well." He said. "It isn't too much of a complicated mission, but you will still need to be careful and make sure that the Hunters of the Mist fail to approach her."

"Of course!" Minato's mood went up. "I will do it right away. They both need each other and Kakashi could afford a mission like that." With their combined presence, and if Rin could leave the hospital, then they may very well be able to pull her out of her depressed state, or at least (Minato wasn't that naïve) ensure that she'd receive the support she so desperately needed. Then, Danzo spoke up.

"… Hiruzen, you didn't see fit to mention the other side of that mission." The older man got up. "You and Sakumo's spawn will both be training the girl in the arts of war."

"Danzo." The Third spoke with an edge that would intimidate the bravest Shinobi, but the man with the bandages didn't seem to find any alarm in his current situation. After all, two powerful agents of the Leaf were glaring right at him, since the blond knew what Danzo meant to use Rin for.

"The other Hidden Villages all have a Jinchuuriki with good control over their Bijuu. The Hidden Cloud even has two." Danzo raised two fingers. "And what do we have? None. The most powerful Tailed Beast of all is within our grasp and yet we cannot use it. This must change immediately, and we will do so by having Nohara master her powers now that the Mist has so generously dropped their best tool into our laps."

"Rin is a medic." Minato decided to point out. "And this much power cannot be controlled in months!"

"A medic? Not anymore. She's a host, now. And while we cannot make her master it in a few months, we can always ensure that she'll learn a few Jutsus." Danzo rubbed his chin. "She has good chakra control, doesn't she?"

"Even then, I refuse to make a weapon out of her. This would betray her trust!" Minato swung his arm horizontally. "She needs time away from the battlefield or Jutsus in general, to heal and recover."

Danzo prepared to speak, but noticed Hiruzen's glare and chose to stop. "Hmph…" He said. "Heed my words though. The girl will be trained and will make use of her abilities. It's been ordered." The older man frowned. "It can be done by you and the boy, in a bright environment, or I can assign my best men to make a fine warrior out of her. The latter would be more… efficient, but owing to your actions in the war, I will grant you the choice until tomorrow."

"I shall decide when the choice occurs, Danzo, do not overstep." Hiruzen pointed away. "Run back to your shadows."

Danzo did so in silence, and Minato dropped his shoulders, feeling tired and turning to Hiruzen in a manner that was almost pleading. "We cannot allow Rin to be used as a weapon."

"Unfortunately, the council of elders has agreed, and we may indeed need a Jinchuuriki…" Hiruzen sighed. "I'm sorry, Minato, I would love for this girl to experience the happiness she deserves, but in these times…"

"I will… I will see it with her." Said Minato. He would have loved to fight against that decision, and do his best to defend his student, but there were things that the speed of light and a Rasengan could not beat. Bureaucracy was one of those, and Minato knew that his fame could only bring him so far against the elders. He couldn't help but feel shame at his inability to keep his pupils away from evil hands.

"I will give you the time you need. I can at least guarantee that." Said Hiruzen. "I'm sorry."

Minato nodded slowly but understood that he could still only delay for so long. "I will do something about it."

Not having the patience to walk out the regular way, the youth simply teleported away, leaving Hiruzen alone in his office.

…

A/N: Whoah, thanks for the reviews! I loved them! And you're quite right about it, Myst, but I guess it's usually bad guy gloating! Or they didn't think that it'd change anything!

In this chapter, we get three different scenes. This up the pace a little but I do hope that enough time has been given for each! We get to see some characters with minor appearances in canon along with some other characters like Hiruzen or the dickish Danzo. Speaking of the characters that showed up here, keep in mind one of them, he's going to show up later and I've got a little role for him!

I'm going to try to upload this weekly along with my other fic, but probably not both during the same week. I like writing it so far! But I'm mostly eager for the following chapters, since I plan on going a little crazy!

See ya next week!


	3. At least take me out for dinner.

"Here! And thanks for visiting, Kakashi!"

Kakashi nodded to the short woman behind the counter and graciously accepted the small wooden figure of a Leaf shinobi that she gifted unto him. The figure, slowly carven by the expert hands of the two inhabitants of the building, depicted an unknown ninja in the midst of doing hand-seals, frowning at his unknown foe. By all accounts, it was splendid work, even if the youth knew little of the intricacies of such crafting. Even the handle of the shinobi's sheathed Katana was fully detailed, and there had been work on the face as well instead of making it featureless or with dots-like features. Even the hand-seals seemed accurate to the famous Fireball Jutsu. "Good work. This is an excellent wood carving." He complimented, bowing slightly. The woman covered her blushing face with her hands. 

"You shouldn't compliment me like this! It's only natural!" Recovering from her ordeal, the older woman pointed at some shelves, which had more wooden carvings. One or two depicted a ninja or even a technique but most imitated animals, buildings, or people in regular positions. "The Nohara shop offers only the best of the best!"

"I'll make sure to recommend it to the others." Kakashi kept the wooden figure in his hands and turned around, facing the entrance of the shop where an older man was comparing two particular figures. "I'll see you later!"

"Wait!" Kakashi stopped himself and glanced backward, as Mr.Nohara came out of the backroom, rubbing his gloved hands together to let the wooden splinters fall out. Whereas his wife was short and a bit stocky now, he was a tall man, and fairly well-built considering that he was middle-aged and his job, while hardly effortless, didn't require him to be exactly in shape. The hero of the Sharingan remembered that Obito had been surprised to hear that the man was Rin's father, since apart from the hair color and even hairstyle, the youth had mostly inherited from her mother. 

Unlike his daughter, Mr.Nohara had harsh, green eyes (though Rin could match him whenever she was annoyed enough). And really unlike his daughter, he also had a large mustache. Those features combined had been the bane of the young boys who had fallen for Rin, and those who were hovering around the young girl (at any age) were broken upon his altar, fleeing as soon as he decided to walk up and ask them what they intended to do with her. Of course, his wife reprimanded him for this, calling it "puppy love" (and saying that, at their age, the young boys would probably not yet imagine a future with her), but Reo Nohara was not a man so easily swayed, even by his wife Yui or daughter Rin.

All members of the Nohara family had purple markings, apart from the youngest of the bunch, Ena, who was currently sleeping upstairs.

Being directly called out by such a man would put the fear of God for any young ninja, and make them regret the battlefronts, but Kakashi merely raised his hand in greeting. He had long since expected such a confrontation between them. "Hello, mister Reo."

"Kakashi." As a sign of respect, he had taken to calling him by his name, instead of "brat" or "boy" as he did with others. Kakashi didn't quite think that he had earned the right, but he knew better than to argue. "Where is our daughter? She should have recovered already, no?"

"Rin is doing fine. However, we need to be thorough with our evaluation of her, though I ensure you that no harm has been done to her by the Hidden Mist." Said the white-haired boy. "Once she's been deemed safe, she'll be allowed to go back home."

"Good. We… would have words with her." He said. "And this is a matter best discussed between Noharas..." Reo concluded, preventing Kakashi from simply proposing to relay the message. "It has been far too long." 

"Oh! This reminds me!" Yui went into the back room and, after one minute, came back with something wrapped in fabric, which she handed to him. "You should bring this to our little girl just in case!"

"And don't have a guard destroy it because it might be trapped." Warned Reo. "This is a gift, from parents to daughter." The youth accepted and carefully pocketed the item. With his Sharingan covered by his headband, he didn't quite know what it was, and he wasn't curious enough to pry on it. Family matters were family matters, and he wasn't about to pry into it. Instead, he silently accepted it, handing some money only to have Yui push it away. 

"Aw, you're going to make me feel bad if I rob you of that hard-earned money! Why don't go you use it to buy her some flowers? I'm sure she'd appreciate it!" 

"Very well. Mister Nohara, Miss Nohara." Kakashi bowed slightly, and calmly reverse-pickpocketed Yui, inserting some money into her pocket with such speed that the other client, despite looking at the scene, apparently didn't notice it. "Good day to you three."

Reo folded his arms and grunted, while Yui simply smiled at him. Once he was done, Kakashi departed from the shop, and left into the wider streets of the Hidden Leaf. He didn't have that much time left before his meeting (and while he had taken up the new habit of being a bit later than usual, Minato had specifically encouraged him to try to be on point this time) but he feared that only bringing Rin some wooden tools wouldn't be enough. She'd be touched, certainly, and Minato had told him in no uncertain terms that his presence alone would lift her mood, but he'd feel guilty not to do his best in his situation, and he had more than enough money to afford it… But, according to the queue at the nearest flower shop, not enough time though.

Sighing, Kakashi decided that he could always bring her some for a second visit, and made his way towards the gates of the village, or, rather, to a building near them. The weigh of celebrity had made it difficult for Minato to be out in the open without a swarm of people around him, and the blond always felt bad when he ignored them. After all, all of those ninjas and civilians were saved or had a relative or friend saved by the Yellow Flash's famous attacks, and Minato felt like betraying them if he ever ran away. So both men had decided to meet on a roof near the gates, where the crowd wouldn't notice them. There was a risk of ninjas noticing, but those who stood at the gates were either about to leave, were coming back from some arduous mission or were ensuring that, amongst the flood of people coming in and out, not a single one of them would decide to hold up a bomb or attempt to summon a Jutsu in the middle of the crowd. Thus, Minato saw little action, quietly sitting at a corner with his legs crossed. When Kakashi leaped next to him, the blond smiled. "Hey, Kakashi!" He gestured casually and moved to get up, only to stop himself when the young man put his arms together and proceeded to bow directly to him. 

"Thank you for saving us, master." Said Kakashi, earnestly. "I still shudder to think of what would've happened had it not been for you…"

"Don't worry about it." The young man winked. "I wish I could've saved more people… But helping you and Rin was enough." The Jônin noticed Kakashi's gifts and nodded. "You bought these from her parents' shop, right?"

"Hm-hm. It'd probably comfort her." Spoke Kakashi. "Well, if you've bought some too though…"

"No, no. It's fine. I haven't bought any because I knew you would." Minato folded his arms. "They did try to hand me something but I told them it'd be best if you gave it to Rin yourself." Minato sighed. "When they saw me enter the shop and I saw the panic in their eyes… I'm glad I ultimately delivered the good news." There was a disappointed edge in Minato's voice. He spoke half-true, in saying that Rin was back, but she had a colossal problem now as well. Since the atmosphere was a bit heavy, Minato switched the topic. "Oh, by the way, Rin has advised you to take a break the next time you end up that exhausted, or she'll chide you."

Kakashi chuckled and shook his head. "I'll try to live up to her advice…" He said. "We should be going now."

"You're right, but beforehand I'd want you to have this." Minato reached from behind him, in a spot that he had covered until now, and handed Kakashi a bouquet. Bewildered, the youth received the item before understanding its signification. "Ah… Thank you Sensei, I was pondering on where to find one." The elite ninja noticed that a little "Get well soon!!!!" message had been written in red, causing him to chuckle. 

"Well, I guess we ought to go." Minato grabbed his acolyte by the shoulder, and both teleported away in a blinding flash. So blinding that Anko, who had managed to sneak up onto the scene, nearly fell from the ledge she was holding, taking several seconds to struggle against gravity before she remembered to simply press her feet against the wall of the building to let her chakra do the rest.

Once assured that she was safe, Anko walked on the rooftop and glanced at the spot where the two had been standing up until now, rubbing her chin. "… Huh, who are they visiting? Does Lady Kushina knows?" She asked herself out loud.

…

The two ninjas teleported in the hall of the "military hospital", though the part in which they stood had been cleared out beforehand to avoid anything funny from happening. Not that it stopped a "patient" or two from jumping in fright when the two elite Shinobis appeared, and some tilted their heads when they saw them carrying gifts. Most understood their purpose though, so the two Ninjas were free to progress. A few months ago, Kakashi wouldn't have been caught dead carrying a bag and some flowers, but he kept his cool and progressed to the stairs leading to Rin's room, admittedly wondering how she was doing. However, his question would not be answered just quite yet, as Minato held his hand out to bar the youth from approaching further up.

"Hm? Is there something going on, teacher?"

"Kakashi," Minato said, ensuring no one else was here. The entire facility was filled to the brim with ninjas who had been told that they were protecting something of value (though the war meant that they were switched out quite often) but the blond would rather keep the conversation personal. "When we meet Rin, we're going to have to ask her."

"… Yeah." Kakashi knew what he meant. "I don't know how she's going to react to that particular news, so if we had time…"

"Danzo is very pressing on that matter. I would love to hold the information off for as long as I can, but quite a few on the council think that she should be informed now. Lord Third has bought us as much time as we could but…" Kakashi understood that Rin's nature made her unique now, and also that the Third Hokage would rather not run into trouble with the council while the war was still on-going, but he was disgusted to realize that they were so eager to make a weapon out of his teammate. Rin's new power was immense, yes, and would need to be mastered but did they need to be so quick about it? 

"I guess we've got no choice," Kakashi said. "I'll-"

"No. I will." Said Minato. "I won't let you be the bearer of bad news. Just focus on making Rin happy, she'll need it." Kakashi agreed, and they finished their short journey towards Rin's room. Upon entering, the youth with the Sharingan quickly found Rin near the window, looking wistfully at the forest and people below. Her purple marks had faded and her hair had grown just a bit longer, but the one aspect of her that thoroughly troubled the young man was her joyless eyes. They reminded him of the absent look on her face that she had on for some days after Obito's death, and it took Rin's entourage quite the effort to get her to smile again, only days before a seemingly innocuous mission led her to be amongst the countless genin and civilians to be taken away by a surprise assault from the Hidden Mist...

However, when she saw Kakashi and Minato walk into the room, Rin's joyless behavior fell to the side and she jumped out of her chair so hard, it was a miracle that it didn't fly through the wall entirely. The young Nohara tackled the jônin (to the point where he had to focus chakra on his feet to avoid stumbling backward), simultaneously wrapping her arms around his neck as well. "Kakashi!" She yelled. "I'm so glad you're here with me!" 

The youth stood still and, carefully putting away his gifts, returned the hug. "There, there." He said, letting her do as she wished. It took Rin a little time to pull herself away from him, but he didn't mind, though he noticed that she was wiping her eyes away once she was done.

"I missed you so much!" Rin clapped her hands together. "Thanks for freeing me from the Hidden Mist! But you should watch out for your health! Don't go on missions when you've just recovered, alright!"

"Y-yeah, I'll hold unto that." Kakashi scratched the back of his head, wondering how he was gonna tell her that he was already tackling another mission. "How are you feeling? You certainly seem well in physicals."

"Well, I recover fast!" Rin winked and clenched her fist while holding it up. Then, she looked at the flower and the wrapped gifts and immediately looked up at both Kakashi and Minato (who elected to stay back while his students reunited) with stars in her eyes, putting her hands together in front of her face. "Whoah! Are those for me?" 

"Yep. We bought them along with Kakashi and Kushina." Minato lied… if only a little. Appreciating his teacher's efforts, the youth said nothing and let Rin pick up the flowers, somehow praying that it wouldn't turn out that she was allergic to them. Luckily, Rin's reaction after smelling them was one of great enthusiasm. 

"Thank you just so much! I love these flowers!" Rin checked the message and laughed. "You'll have to thank miss Kushina too! It's so nice of her to do that for me!"

"Well, she's always liked you." Said Minato. "But while the flowers are great, we've got presents from someone else as well."

Kakashi handed the first wooden figure to Rin, who had instantly recognized it. "Thank you!" Her reaction was a bit more muted than the flowers, but she was still appreciative. "… Say! When will I get to come out of this hospital? My parents must be worried sick!" Rin pointedly did not open the second gift, but neither men wanted to point it out to her. Kakashi, also remembered that her father did not want it open, so he guessed that whatever was inside was quite personal. Minato seemed to understand this as well, or he was too busy trying to break out the truth to her.

"Well, Rin… As you know…" Rin's facial expression made way for a look of stress, but she bravely held out. "Rin, I've met up with Lord the Third and some other elders… What would you think about training with us?" He said. In a way, he was lying by making it sound like she could just say "no", but it could be troublesome to just flat-out say that she'd be forced to train. "I know that you probably don't want anything to do with ninja business for a while, but I can guarantee you that you won't be facing enemy shinobis for a while. And when we'll be done with the training, the war's probably going to be over."

"So it'll be a bit long, heh?" Rin said, rubbing her arms. "… I don't know, mister Minato, I…"

She was just going to say no and be done with it. It'd be easy, understandable from her point of view and she'd just return home. She'd just need to say two letters, and they'd understand based on her previous experiences. For all she knew at that point, a single word was separating her from not having to relive any tragedy and find herself captured… But alas, alas she didn't want to. Couldn't, too. Her new cursed nature made her a target for a lot of villages for one, and she doubted that she could so easily take up her old life. And besides, she had her restrictions about that one, the same that has prevented her from taking the higher ground and leaving when Obito died.

More importantly, though, she couldn't help but think back of her helplessness not so long ago. Twice, she had been easily captured by enemy shinobis, and her teammates had been wounded or outright killed while retrieving her. Twice, she felt like a helpless damsel, swept aside by higher forces, and completely unable to help as her loved ones bled to save her. She was a useless little Kunoichi who hadn't done anything but put her teammates into trouble. And they would try to argue that she wasn't, that she too had contributed and that her skillset on its own made her useful… But so what? From Rin's point of view, she had been nothing but trouble for the others. Because she was weak, and up until recently, could barely even defend herself against enemies that her teammate Kakashi could easily defeat.

But that could change. Now she had an immense power locked in her, and the finest Shinobi of his generation (and one who would set a golden standard for the village) was proposing to train her. He was a busy man, maybe, but spending even one day or more training with him would certainly make her progress. And even then, she thought that the best teachers in the Leaf would end up assigned to her (since, after all, she was a Jinchuuriki). 

"… Accept."

"That's fine, Rin, I understand p- huh?" Minato glanced at Rin as if she had said the most insane thing she could come up with. To his credit, perhaps she just did. Kakashi, who had commandeered a seat, also seemed like he couldn't believe what he had just heard. "Whoah, you…" He rubbed his chin, and both students would've giggled at the sight of their confident and collected master being that flabbergasted. Well, Kakashi would've noticed if he wasn't utterly stunned with her answer too. "You… accept? Well, I'm a bit surprised." He folded his arms. "You're a brave girl, Rin, but I do want to warn you that the training won't be easy and you… may not see your family for a little while." Minato held his hands. "You'll be taken to a safe facility, and protected against the hunters that might be sent your way, but it might be safer…"

Rin bit her lips at that part and sat down on the bed. "Well… I'm…" An idea came to her. "Could I just see them? For a night before leaving? I could always… always just tell them that I'll have to take a mission. But I swear I won't tell them about the Tailed Beast!" She promised. "I'll be quiet about it, promises!"

"Well…" Minato pondered. It could be difficult for her to see them again, and while Rin was a sweet girl, he didn't quite trust her to hold on her secret, either because her parents would ask or because she'd feel guilty about lying to them. But the girl needed to see them, and if he just moved her away, then they could think that Rin had been killed or struck with a crippling injury. Both sides needed to see each other, even if they could only talk for one night. And at worst…

"Kakashi." Said Rin. "Could… could you come with me tonight?" She said, nervously twisting a lock of hair with one finger and biting her lips. "To… well, ensure I won't say anything too bad! And because I might need you." Kakashi pondered but accepted quickly.

"Of course," Kakashi said, glad that Rin was cooperative thus far. He had wanted to ask, but pondered on it being too indiscrete. "Though I hope I won't be prying into anything too personal."

"O-oh, no don't worry, I'm just going to see my parents and we'll… dine for one night and-" She swung her arm upwards while making a sound. "Swoosh, up and away. Maybe we could say that, huh, I have to go heal some people in another village? Something that's D-ranked!"

"Hm…" Minato pondered. "That could be a good explanation, though I'm warning you, it will take a little while to train you." He admitted. "We're not going to have you master your tailed beast, but we'll train you in the way of the Shinobi… Well, you might end up violating one of the rules set for medic ninjas." Admitted Minato. "But I guess that even Tsunade would make an exception for you." The rules of medics, after all, never took Jinchuurikis into account. Rin would need to fight now.

"Well, I've always wanted to be… strong." Rin changed the subject quickly at that point. "What am I going to be trained at, by the way?"

"We'll start with some Taijutsu." Said Kakashi. "To at least give you the ability to defend yourself up close. Then, we'll probably work on Jutsus. You've got good chakra control so it'll probably be easy for you."

"And the place that I'm going to pick will be ideal for you to train your Water Release."

Rin smiled. "Nice." She stretched her arms. "Erm, could I ask something though? Since you spoke of Tsunade, erm, is it possible to learn how to hit hard like her?" To demonstrate, she punched at the air lightly. Minato seemed a bit surprised but nodded.

"Yeah, there should be a scroll. I'd ask her to come to train you but she's busy getting back from the Rain country." Said Minato.

"O-oh!" Rin blushed and waved her hands as if she was making hand seals. "No no no! I don't, I don't deserve to be trained by Tsunade!" She explained. "I'm just a common medic-nin! But erm, there's a scroll?"

"Yeah, I should be able to get it." He said. "I'm surprised you'd take an interest though. No offense, Rin, but I thought you would've liked something that'd play more at a distance." 

"Well, I don't want to be helpless." Admitted Rin. "If I ever get grabbed, I don't want to just wait to be saved. I want to…" She held up her fist and clenched it. "Well, no, not do that to their arm! But at least make sure that I'll fight on."

Minato and Kakashi silently pondered. "Hm, that should be good. You could even combine it with your Taijutsu too." Said Minato. "Anyway, Kakashi and I will be your teachers. We both know you the best after all, and Kakashi has a lot of Jutsus at his disposal." Said Minato, leaning off the wall. "I'm going to take care of the facility and make sure it's both safe and ready. I could get you back home though." He said. "The Third should grant you that one night as well as a mission to get you out of the village." 

"Thank you!" Rin clapped her hands. "I know I'm asking a lot so I wanna apologize!"

"You're hardly asking a lot, considering what's happening to you." Said Minato. "I was too slow to save you, so I'm going to make up for it by providing you with everything you need. It could be good for you to see your family after all this time." The Yellow Flash began walking away. "I'm going to get the paperwork ready to get you out, you'll be back to the village pretty soon!" 

"Great! Thank you Sensei!" Thanked Rin, waving her hand as he left. "Oh, and don't feel guilty about me! You've done a great job for everyone else!" Minato nodded to her, and left the room, sighing in preparation for the toughest challenge in his life: Paperwork. Left alone with Kakashi, Rin got up. "Well, erm, Kakashi, would you mind if you left the room for a moment?" When Kakashi tilted his head, Rin coughed. "I'd need to change since I can't go home with a hospital gown, tee-hee!"

Understanding what she meant, the boy showed his composure by just casually nodding (whereas Obito would've probably fled the room at lightspeed after a round of profuse apologizes) and leaving, giving her time to change. Rin went at a corner, looked around, and quickly unfurled her gift, fearing that her reaction to it in front of Kakashi would unsettle him. Quickly yet carefully ripping the fabric off, Rin glanced at the wood carving laying in the palm of her hand, and her eyes widened.

Everything about the carving would earn the highest of praises from those in the known. Rin, neophyte as she was in the art, could already tell that her parents had poured every last bit of their soul within it. The backside of it was smooth to the touch, but the front was the most interesting part. It depicted their house (though imagined, as attested by the majestic dragons floating above it) in the Leaf, with their little family gathered at a window. There was her father first, with an expression of quiet dismay on the face, but she also easily recognized her mother next to him, holding Ena, her baby brother. While the mother looked upset, even more so than her dad, the baby was pointedly neutral, though perhaps her parents just felt that it'd be pushing it too far.

The little family was depicted as realistically as possible first and foremost, and Rin's eyes darted around the other parts of the house, pondering on where her other self within it was present. A mere cursory glance proved enough to tell her that she was not be found within it though. The whole little "piece" seemed defined by Rin's absence from the family unit, and how they reacted to it. This was enough to make her lips quiver ever so slightly, and she struggled not to clench her hand to avoid damaging it.

Below the house, a message had been written, being large enough to fill up half the carving. Compared to the other writings within it (such as the name of the house, where the Nohara name was proudly displayed), that particular message was messier than the other, though it seemed to be somewhat deliberate, as if her parents wanted to convey their desperation through it. The message in itself wasn't long (her father was never one to beat around the bush) though, being as long as a single phrase, which very nearly caused Rin to drop the engraving when she read it up. 

"BACK HOME."

The chûnin stood in place, silent, but went back on her feet and glanced down at the wooden carving, her eyes showing no particular emotion. Slowly, the fingers of her other hand went on to touch the surface of the little object, and Rin shuddered a little, tears almost welling up on her eyes as she continued to admire her parents and their handiwork. It took Rin about several minutes to fight back against her tears, and the young ninja, after some time, managed to regain her composure before crying, wiping her eyes just one before sniffling. Once the object was put aside, the youth then started to work on changing, though her heart felt heavier.

She could only hope that nothing would go too bad during the dinner…

…

Danzo Shimura was not a man to let anything slip under his nose, especially with all the other Hidden Villages plotting to crush the Leaf entirely. In these times of war, he had taken it upon himself to collect every single bit of information that left the village. He knew, without even trying, the names of every single merchant arriving within the village, knew exactly who was the new star student at the Academy, knew of every casual conversation between the Shinobis of the Leaf, had been informed of the current whereabouts and latest pieces of information of his spies, and, most importantly, was made aware of suspicious movements close to, or even within the village entirely.

As a result, he was tired of those endless reunions with the council, full of decrepit veterans who managed to talk for entire minutes, half an hour in some cases, without managing to make a single point. Everything that they relayed to each other during those councils, he knew about them, and he suspected that so did Hiruzen, or he saw it as discarded trash not worth listening to. But alas, the veteran simply could not afford to miss a session (or even use a shadow clone), since Hiruzen had insisted that Danzo remains within it. What Hiruzen desired to earn out of this, Danzo didn't know. Did he want to have his softness counter-balanced by his rival? Was it something to keep ROOT's leader in check and prevent it from slinking off into the shadow to plot? He truly couldn't grasp, and a question with no good answer irritated the elder shinobi like almost nothing else in the world.

However, this particular session had not been so pointless. After a solid hour of filibuster by the elder within the council, the question of the young Jinchuuriki had come back, since the Yellow Flash had managed to obtain success with the demand for training. Danzo found this to be an agreeable development, though he stubbornly refused to show it, simply folding his arms and leaning on his seat with the same discontent look even as everyone else on the table praised Minato, pushing the young ninja to scratch the back of his head and demand everyone to stop.

The bandaged man frowned. If the rumors that he was set to be the next Hokage were true, then perhaps the problems within the Leaf ran deeper than he feared. Minato caught Danzo's disapproval but offered no reaction, not wishing to show his disdain for a member of the council, even one as… polarizing as him. 

"She had made one request." Said Minato. "Rin wishes to dine with her family before leaving. I've seen fit to grant it to her, since she's promised to keep her condition a secret. Besides, if they grow apart, it might target her psyche." He elaborated. "A Jinchuuriki needs love to fend off the beast within them. If they harbor too much negativity within them, then the seal will weaken and it will be easier for the beast to take hold. I've also warned Rin about the training, so she knows what she's in for."

Danzo answered with an audible scoff, and some members of the council (which included prominent members of the guilds, as well as elders of the clans Nara, Yamanaka, Aburame, Sarutobi, Akimichi, and Hyuga) sighed or prepared themselves. Within the council, Danzo's scoffing was one of the most feared things of all. "You trust this young girl not to reveal the truth behind her condition? She'll crack, eventually. Her parents will ask her questions on where she was, and where she will be going, and she'll reveal everything, or will set up a clumsy lie."

"It's… true." Admitted the Nara. "But on top of that, wouldn't the separation from her family cause more negativity in the long run? What if she asks to spend more time and can't quite separate from them?"

"You shouldn't trust a Nohara with anything." Cursed one of the older gentlemen in the room. "Bunch of weasels."

Minato frowned. "Hrm… Lord Danzo, let me address your issue first." He said. "I do admit that it is rather risky, but Rin has great willpower." He said. "And will be accompanied by Kakashi. Since he's been a friend of hers since childhood, her parents will not suspect anything." The jônin folded his arms. "If Rin gets too close to the truth, then Kakashi will take her aside before she can do so, and his mere presence will help her mental state. Rin knows the story she has to tell, and is a smart girl, I trust in her abilities not to leak anything." 

He then pointed to the Nara. "As for the matter of the negativity, being separated from one's family for too long can be tough. Rin has been away from them for nearly two months, and is facing an important crisis right now. Getting close to her family, even for one night, will help to alleviate these issues and will even, perhaps, remind her of what she fought for, which is useful for a Jinchuuriki."

He didn't see fit to address the point of the last man, but everyone within the room, including Danzo, saw little value in what he had to say first. Plus, ROOT's leader had more important matters to attend to than to pay attention to some geriatric ready to keel over and die at any seconds, like ensuring that Rin wouldn't screw up. Minato saw fit to add a new point though.

"Besides, the facility that I have selected will need to be fit with traps, seals, and cleaned up. It will take a small crew about only one night to do so. And I think that housing her in a clean and secure training ground will do her good."

Hiruzen saw an occasion to dive in. "Ah, that training ground… The one where you trained with Jiraya, right?" Minato nodded, and Hiruzen chuckled wistfully. "Good. I agree to let Rin see her family for one night. The girl will need it. However, do make sure that no information is leaked." Everyone else, bar Danzo and the older man, nodded in agreement. "The case of the Jinchuuriki will need to be reviewed during each reunion though… But since we spoke of Jiraya, perhaps we should consult the question of the Hidden Rain."

Before Danzo could try to steer the conversation back to the Jinchuuriki, the Hyuga intervened quickly. "Your three-star students have repelled the Hidden Sand and Rock from leading an invasion through the country, though we've been unable to establish a foothold in the area as well." He stroked his chin. "Hanzo has managed to repel them, though Jiraya has insisted to stay behind to help some war orphans. Tsunade and Orochimaru should be back soon though, and we'll be able to send more troops to another front."

"I can only hope that Jiraya will not drag his feet for too long. Staying behind in some nobody country while his village needs him…" Danzo spoke, being the only man bold enough to criticize Jiraya in front of his master as well as his student. 

Hiruzen frowned but said nothing, and chattering ensued in the room, further preventing Danzo from speaking out. What kind of nobody like Hanzo, the leader of a war-torn nation, would rise to be able to match (no, surpass) some of the strongest ninjas the Leaf has ever known? What should they focus on now? Up north? On the shores, to potentially ward off another bold move from the Mist? Rin faded into the background for now…

Except in Danzo's mind, of course. How could he afford to stand there and watch this happen? Something had to be done to ensure that the girl would be properly motivated and avoid revealing some leaks to her parents. While the older man kept his attention on the matter at hand, intervening now and then to show that he hadn't phased out from the conversation, his sharp mind went on to devise a way to fix Hiruzen and Minato's mistakes and ensure that it wouldn't impact the village negatively, once more…

…

"Well, here we are! The Hidden Leaf Village!" Minato quipped as they exited the Hokage's office, where he had chosen to teleport the pair over. Kakashi said something akin to a thank you, but Rin hadn't paid too much attention, basking in the warm activity of the village. Her months of isolation (be it in a cell or, for less time, the hospital) had gotten her unused to it, so she simply used her available time to glance at the street, admiring about every inch of it. From that one ramen shop that had quite the queue to it to the illuminated buildings, teeming with life and bright lights, everything just felt so much more active than everything she had seen the past months. So inviting, too! She wanted to just dive in and enjoy the night for as long as it lasted.  
Then she remembered that she had her parents' dinner to attend to, and then it'd be back to isolation, albeit with friends. Rin had agreed to it, so she couldn't just back off, but she'd be lying if she were to admit that she had zero regrets about it. Of course, though, she didn't vocalize it. It was all about making the best out of a horrible situation, and she was still grateful that they had even managed to get her to spend some time in the country. 

"Well, I'm going to have to leave." Said Minato. "There's a lot of things that I need to prepare for! And if I get back too late, Kushina's going to kill me." His blue eyes glanced in a direction. "Oh, and there-I should get out, see ya, and have a good night!" Minato vanished as soon as Rin blinked, and Kakashi grabbed her arm gently, gesturing in the direction of a bunch of eager fans of Minato, now eager to speak to their idol's students. Rin made a surprised grimace and both chûnins wisely backed off with a jump. It wasn't as fancy or as far-reaching as a teleportation, but it managed to get them out of their claws just fine.

"Phew." Kakashi let go of Rin, and the medic sighed. "We should probably get to your parent's house. Is there anything you'd like to do beforehand? We don't have much time though."

"Hm…" Rin stroked her chin. "I'd… well, you know, I had in mind that we could probably visit a place once we're done with the dinner. It wouldn't be illegal, right?"

Kakashi understood precisely what Rin meant by "place", and it spoke of the harshness of their lives that he needed so little time for it. "… The memorial." He spoke, quietly. "Well, of course. I don't think your parents would mind." Kakashi placed his hands in his pockets and made himself a bit more tense, to hide his troubles with it. He looked away for a moment, contemplating the village, and focused back on Rin, visibly smiling at her even with his mask on. "I'm glad you're back here, Rin, even if it's for one night."

Rin smiled back at him. "So am I… You know, even with what's happened, I feel like I can live with it so long as you, Minato and the others are here to help me." She admitted. "So… Should we head out?" Had she been bolder, she would've grabbed his hand, but it was like trying to move a limb out of stone. She could somewhat better understand why Obito was so clumsy with her around, though Rin could only really blame herself for somehow never caught on to his feelings when he had made it so obvious. 

"Of course, lead the way." Kakashi proposed. Rin accepted, and the two youths began to head home, trusting that the night wouldn't go wrong…

…

Shido had to admit, being a guard had to be the best job a Konoha shinobi could afford.

Oh sure, it wasn't glorious, nor was it really exciting, but hey, he was defending the Leaf! He was out there, making sure that the boys and girls fighting on the frontline would have a home to return to. Well, a lot of the times he just let the natural barrier take care of detecting stuff and he only ever had to fight some roving bandits (he just shooed away a young couple actually but they could've been bandits) once or twice but hey, he was still making sure it'd stand up.

The job wasn't very risky though. He had a ton of buddies backing him up if he ever needed to and, hey, who was going to launch an attack on the Leaf? The place with the Hokage and all those crazy strong ninjas would ever go under siege one day? Oh please. If things were got too bad, then Shido wouldn't be fighting, it'd be someone like the Hokage, and wouldn't that be a spectacle? Besides, if things got dicey, he knew all the cool escape routes and he, huh, had learned how to blend in as a Cloud ninja, or even a Rock ninja… You know, to, huh, stage a resistance.

But most of all, the biggest boon was the ability to, at any point, just enjoy the view of Konoha and its magnificent streets, all lit up with shops and full of people who were very grateful to have Shido covering their backs. He never really wasted too much time looking at it, since who knew what fiends could sneak up on him while he was busy? Alas, he took the time to admire the view…

And then he felt one arm wraps around his neck, and a massive hand covered his face, blocking his eyes and also preventing him from yelling. Then, with a quick snap, Shido went on to join the pure land, while his body slumped, still held by his slayer. Said slayer was a muscular Shinobi who, unlike the other hunters, had forbidden the haori, wearing a black skin-fitting cloth over his pin-striped pants instead. His hair was also noticeably shorter and missing the bun, though his mask wasn't any different from the average hunter's.

His partner was smaller than him, and unlike him she wore the required uniform, though her mask was slightly different from the others, having a little "mouth" that looked like a frown and added an expression of a sort to it. The first one silently jumped back into the darkness with Shido's corpse while the other covertly transformed into a shinobi from the Leaf, folding her arms and awaiting her partner. No other guards came over, until two men leaped out of the shadow. One was a regular Leaf ninja, who was accompanied by the recently slain Shido. 

"He'll know what to do to avoid arousing suspicion." Whispered the man. Then, he looked down at Konoha and briefly admired it, perhaps stunned by it. "Hmph… I wonder how many civilians we could kill with a surprise-" His partner gestured once, putting her finger in front of her mouth. When the man shut up, she quietly pointed to Konoha, and he nodded in silence.

Shido once again began to patrol, while his two assassins jumped straight into the village, with a destination in mind…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Booh! Here's chapter 3! The story isn't advancing fast but I hope you guys don't mind! Besides, I can promise that stuff will get more action-heavy later. However, I don't plan for it to become mindless smashing either so don't worry!
> 
> We get some worrying drama going on! What will happen when those hunters reach Rin's family? What will happen to dinner time? Is Danzo behind this? I do hope that you're enjoying this!
> 
> Also yeah, Kushina will be in it for sure! And as for Obito, I do have plans for spiral boy! 
> 
> Hope you'll enjoy the read, don't forget the reviews! They help me out and I love them!
> 
> See ya later!


	4. Home is where trouble is.

The Nohara house was right next to their little shop and was one of the oldest houses in the village since the family had been there for its beginning (something which they were quite proud of… In a manner that was mocked by the other clans, since quite a lot had been there at the start). Nonetheless, credits should be given: Whereas Hashirama and some lesser-powered wood-style users had built several houses for the clans, the Nohara were the ones who build it up from the start, using their own hands to do so. Admittedly, it had annoyed many since they took their time to work on the house, causing quite a lot of noises, but the full result had been impressive enough for Hashirama himself to compliment it, according to accounts.

And it was, indeed, some nice handiwork. The house wasn't as big as the others, maybe, but there was something delicate yet sturdy to the structure like it could withstand a tornado that would flatten the other houses without a scratch. The clan's symbol (two purple marks) had been added to the house, being always repainted by the current patriarch of the family. Unlike Kakashi's cold apartment, it looked quite charming. 

Rin admired her house before entering it, as if rediscovering it. Then, she took a heavy breath, nodded at Kakashi, and took some steps forwards to get in front of the door, knocking twice yet only hitting the door once, since Yui swung it open immediately after the first knock. "RIN!" She yelled. The young Kunoichi smiled and leaped into her mother's arms. "Oh, Rin! My little bird!" The silver-haired youth stepped into the house and closed the door, figuring that nearby civilians could get curious. It wasn't particularly rare to see civilians enthusiastically greeting ninja relatives back but still…

As he closed it, it was Reo's turn to come into the room, his usual tension all but gone. "Rin! My daughter!" He embraced both wife and child warmly, settling his big arms around them and holding both tight. Rin was as surprised as she was happy, letting tears stream down from her eyes and letting out some thankful-sounding gibberish. Kakashi said nothing, and just waited for the Nohara to reunite, briefly scanning the room around himself just in case. 

The house had the entrance hall (currently occupied) brightly lit, with a small staircase on the right, leading to the floors. Over the staircase, several pictures or drawings were arranged, depicting important figures of the family as well as its current foundation. On the left of the staircase, there was a little hall, with three doors: One lead to the kitchen, the other to the cave, and the last (which led to the right) granted access to the toilets. 

If one wanted to access the kitchen though, they could simply take the door to the left upon entering, though they'd need to cross a small room with some chairs and a shelf full of books. Upon crossing it, the kitchen would be next. It was fairly small, but just big enough for at least two people to move around without much troubles, and most ingredients were packed in appropriate shelves or even closets. It seemed like some food was being prepared within it.

To Kakashi's right, there was another room, though this one was a bit larger and had a large couch along with several chairs, being presumably there to house parties or larger gathering. It had a small wooden table in front of the couch, and a book laid there, discarded. Kakashi would've checked it out but he figured that doing such would be perhaps impolite. Just a bit beyond the living room laid a large black table. It was so large that if someone sat at its extremity, they would be back in the living room. Since most of the space was taken up by the table, there wasn't much else, besides some more pictures and another door, leading to a dark room. Kakashi understood that this was probably meant to be the pantry. Fittingly, the walls in the rooms were all colored purple. A rather dubious choice, thought the ninja, but who was he to give lessons in architecture?

Rin gained the motivation to pull herself away from her family and looked at Kakashi, noticing him standing in a corner and quickly making a shocked face. After raising a hand (but perhaps thinking that inviting Kakashi would only make it worse), Rin called out to him. "Kakashi, meet dad and mom! Dad and mom, meet Kakashi!" The two of them turned towards the youth, who greeted a casual hand at them. "Oh, wait, you already met! I'm so dumb!"

"Aw, it's fine dear!" Yui patted her daughter on the head. "I'm glad to meet you, Kakashi! You wouldn't believe just how much Rin would like to talk about you!" Upon hearing this, Rin covered her face, intending to hide the furious glow on it. Her father was a bit more reserved but he smiled at him, something which Kakashi understood to be equivalent to seeing a rock bleed.

"Thank you for saving our daughter and bringing her home, Kakashi." He said, still managing to sound somewhat upset even as he tried his very best to be congratulatory. And to his credit, he was honest: Apparently, the man had managed to lock himself into a perpetually angry mood through sheer effort. "It shames us that we could only offer you some wood carvings as a reward. We would lend you money if…"

"Rin being safe is enough." Said Kakashi, immediately. He prepared to say something else but the sound of crying upstairs interrupted him, prompting everyone to look up. 

"Oh, Ena!" Rin jumped to the stairs. "Can I go get him? He's so cute! And I've been kept away for so long! Please say yes!" 

"Oh, you're quite excited!" Yui laughed. "Well, do so of course! You could always introduce your baby brother to your boyfriend!" As she said that, Rin nearly slipped on the stairs and turned to look at her mom indignantly. Kakashi titled his head to the side but offered no comment, and his attention was soon grabbed by Reo, who held his hand out for him. 

"Come on, boy, I'm quite interested in hearing about you."

Yui left for the kitchen, and Rin walked upstairs, repeatedly tapping on her face in an attempt to make the blushing go away. After only making her face redder, she simply went for the right and prepared to head into Ena's room, which was the second room at the end of the hall (perhaps not so wisely, Reo insisted to keep the baby's room away from the parents because it had been "built that way" by his parents). The first room was her own, so she steeled herself to try to walk past it. When she paid it a glimpse, she figured she could. When Rin stopped, she figured she'd just run to make up for the delay. When she turned her head to take a closer look, she… stopped looked excuses, and simply looked at her room, stepping a little into it.

Everything was the same as it had been before her departure to the coast, for a mission that was supposed to be nothing too serious. Of course, her parents had it cleaned up: When Rin absent-mindedly put her fingers on the small desk right next to her door, there wasn't any dust to be found. Likewise, the small glance she paid to her room indicated that everything was in place. Be it the photos of her as a young baby, to her chûnin jacket tied to a wall to her academy diploma… She didn't have that much time, but she still spent some small seconds thinking back of the memories tied to each object. 

The diploma made her remember her days in the Academy, and just how happy she had been to finally get it. That paper containing the D-ranked mission made her remember her first mission ever as a Genin, freeing a cat stuck in the tallest tree in the Land of Fire. The small medical kit was a throw-back to her studies to become a medic and the jacket was, like the diploma, a remembrance of her success at the exams… Whenever she had felt doubt in the past, she'd take a moment to lose herself in the nostalgia. Not simply because she wanted to relive her halcyon days, even if she would probably agree, but also to remind herself of what she had done in the past.

Rin smiled slightly and felt the stress from the past… months vanish, if only a little. Her eyes lazily set on another part of the room at that moment though, and immediately widened. In a single second, her sweet memories became a lot sourer when she laid her eyes on that picture of her team, taken a while back now. It took her a single glance to remember everything: Kakashi, to the right, stared at the camera, in a manner that was professional but somewhat betrayed his desire to be somewhere else by now. Obito, to the left, was containing his frustration with much less success, having been made aware of the team's composition mere minutes before the photo was taken. 

Rin was about the only one who looked like she was having fun, smiling, and throwing two peace signs. One could think of her as oblivious, but she simply meant to add some "joy" to the picture, in away. So she took it on herself to add some levity and found herself joined in that endeavor by Minato, though his smile was a bit more awkward and he had his eyes closed, as if he knew what was awaiting him after the photo would be taken. It perfectly represented her old team. Kakashi was to the point, but somewhat cold, Obito was upset at Kakashi and both Rin and Minato were left to pick up the pieces.

They didn't mind it back then. As she thought back then, it would be something that they'd reunite over later after becoming prestigious members of the village. They'd laugh at their old rivalries, maybe tease Minato over his awkward smile and they'd fondly note how far their relationship had progressed. Well, she thought so. Kakashi wasn't one to have friends and Obito simply hoped he could show his Sharingans for the next picture, but at least she knew Minato thought the same… And hoped it was the case for the boys.

But what of now? Kakashi's scarred, Obito's dead, Rin's a… a monster on top of being a drag for her teammates… Instead of being a small portal to better days, the picture was a dagger for Rin. It almost taunted her, in fact, and she began to breathe faster and faster, her eyes refusing to lift off the picture no matter how much she wanted them to. Her vision grew warped as well, clouding everything but the picture out of her sight, like her mind wanted her to focus solely on it.

Hearing Ena's crying somewhat snapped her out of it but Rin still hurriedly grabbed a piece of cloth from the chair and threw it over the picture before almost bolting out of the room and heading straight into her baby brother's room, hurriedly wiping some nascent tears out of her eyes while doing so. Her baby brother's room was simple enough, having mostly toys in it and a crib. A small tool had been put above the crib, containing star-shaped toys meant to amuse the baby. In a corner, there was a sink, with some towels as well, as well as diapers and clothing for the infant. Rin washed her hands on the sink to better hold the baby and then approached the crib, carefully leaning over it.

Ena was in the middle of it, wailing at the dark and shaking his tiny fists at the imaginary demons that his little mind conceived. He had grown a bit bigger during her absence, but he wasn't that different otherwise, even if he had a bit more brown hair and his eyes were a tiny bit more alert. Rin put one hand on his back and used her other hand to gently support his neck while lifting him, shrugging off the crying while it lasted. After a few seconds, Ena calmed down a little, and "glanced" at her. She'd swear that he could recognize her, but younger babies had a hard time with object permanence, so she didn't count on him doing so.

Defying her expectations, Ena cooed adorably and moved to grasp part of her hair. Rin had to resist that, but she still warmly hugged her brother. "Ena, awwww…" She rubbed her cheek against his own, though she was careful to avoid rubbing the face-paint on him. Then, she kissed him a little on the head. "It's been a while, huh?" Rin and Ena stared at each other briefly before he grunted and moved to put a hand on her cheek. "You've become a big baby now! I'm not going to be able to lift you if you keep growing!" She very carefully, and methodically, swung him a little and his laughing indicated that he found the gesture more amusing. He even swung his arms, as if trying to encourage her to do it again.

"Hm… I guess that you're a little hungry." She said. "Ohh, would you like to see Kakashi? He's a cool guy! He could be your teacher when you grow up!" Rin chuckled at just how senile she was acting, but she hadn't seen Ena in a while. And besides, she needed the relief. And she was always fond of babies. Plenty of people disliked them, somewhat, for being loud and needy but why blame babies? It's not like they can get their food! And a lot of adults can be even more needier and louder than them! 

"Ooo" Ena answered, most wisely. He was already dressed in his pajamas and was appropriately equipped, so Rin saw little harm in taking him downstairs since it didn't seem like he was tired. The Nohara moved the youngest of her clan in her arms with care, and he hanged on her shirt for dear life, having quite a grip even at his age. Then, Rin walked out of the room and began to head for the stairs. On the way, Ena raised his head to look at his sister, who answered him with a smile. And at first, he just continued to look confused, almost like he could recognize her, but also acknowledge that something had changed. 

It was a bit subtle, and it didn't stop him from smiling again and cooing after a few seconds, but she wondered if he could somehow knew that she had changed, and not simply because of her experience. He was just a tiny baby, unaware of the revolving world around him, but perhaps their wisdom was to be found even within one so young? Or she was a bit paranoid, heh. Rin walked down the stairs cautiously and considering going to the kitchen since that's where her mother was and Reo would probably find Ena disrupting his little talk with Kakashi. She did stop, very shortly before completely walking down the stairs, as if to listen to what they talked about. 

"… I haven't got a lot of hobbies, since I've considered them superfluous for a while. I'm trying to pick up reading though."

"Hm. With your eye, you could probably do something like what we do. Your name would help to sell it too."

"My Sharingan is pretty costly to use, and I'd rather keep it for… dangerous situations." Said Kakashi, defensive. Rin sighed at her father's words, but she didn't quite know the full context behind Kakashi's acquisition of it and… a part of her doubted that he'd care much, considering his grudge. She'd have dwelt more if Ena didn't coo a little, attracting Kakashi's keen ear. Seeing no further use in hiding, Rin emerged into the hallway. "Hey!" She said. "I'm sorry, I picked up Ena since he wasn't too sleepy."

"Ena? Heh, that's fine." Reo was sitting on the main couch, while Kakashi commandeered a smaller one. "Meet the youngest of the Nohara, Kakashi, and the future head of it once I become unfit for duties." Rin nodded, while the baby looked at her teammate in a mesmerized manner. In his defense, he hadn't quite seen someone with white hair like that in his life beforehand, and Kakashi's headband probably confused the youth a little.

"Oh, hey Ena." Kakashi sat there and probably realized he had just greeted an infant as if he was expecting an answer. Sensing her opportunity, Rin used a finger to slowly move her little brother's hand, making it look like he was waving back at him. 

"Oh hello, Kakashi!" Rin put up a deeper voice but struggled not to laugh. "How are you doing on this fine day?" Kakashi smiled below the mask, as if admitting that he had been caught. Rin then decided to go sit next to him, since her mother would be distracted in the middle of cooking in hindsight. Taking a seat, she gently positioned Ena to make him almost sit up. "He was just a bit scared of the dark." 

"That's natural." He said. Reo looked down at his son, but focused on the two people in the room who could hold a conversation. "I was just talking with the boy about his deeds. It's quite the honor to have one of your reputation within our house." The mustached man leaned forward and put both hands under his chin, to support his head. "In those times of war, I was thinking that someone like you would be out there fighting those Rock ninjas."

"The war has calmed down a little." Said Kakashi, at this point, it would be wise to mention her departure. "And since Rin is my friend, I was granted a day free to make sure that she's okay after what happened in the Mist, and-"

"And after that, I guess it's back to the front?" Ena interrupted him. The Jonin would've been a bit irritated by this (not because a civilian was interrupting him, but because he was being interrupted in the first place) not so long ago, but he just stopped, blinked and shrugged. Rin took it a bit less well, and moved her lips in silence, chiding her dad just a little. He answered by raising an eyebrow, a bit surprised by her resistance. 

"…Yeah, Kakashi will be leaving." Rin struggled with saying the truth so suddenly, but the earlier the better. At least she gathered the gumption to say it. "And, huh, I'm going to be assigned on a mission too." Reo's eyes widened and he folded his arms before slightly standing up, as if intending to look larger.

"What?" He hissed. "You can't be serious, Rin, you're just barely recovered from that last mission yet Konoha would have you sent away already! Ridiculous!" He searched for his words and found them after a little while. "I guess you truly want to-"

"Dinner's ready!" Yui cheerily announced, dispelling the tension briefly. Everyone in the room glanced at the table (except Ena, who tugged at his sister's sleeve in woeful ignorance of what could've happened) and then decided that the conversation would be better kept for elsewhere. Reo glanced at the three young folks before grunting and getting to his table. Kakashi glanced at Rin, as if asking if she wanted him to be the one to have the conversation, but she nodded only once, replying with the negative. 

"What about Ena?" Asked Yui. "Oh, we got to get a new little chair for him! Rin, could you be a dear and help me fetch it? I would've set it up but I didn't expect the boy to wake up like that! Ah… I guess I should've done so by now though." Rin knew that her mother could still perfectly get it, but understood her intentions quickly enough and moved to carefully lay her baby brother into Kakashi's arms. The young ninja was confused, but adapted quickly and held him well. 

"Huh, hey, Ena." He greeted. 

…

Rin and Yui made it to the kitchen easily, and the young girl didn't wait before putting her hands on her hips, trying her best to make a scolding face. "Mom." She chided, keeping a low tone, as if discussing a state secret. "D-don't just call him a boyfriend like that! It's so embarrassing for me!" Rin looked back towards the main room.

"Oh, my dear!" Yui laughed a little. "It's a bit obvious that you have a crush on him! I think you should try to come clean about your feelings before he loses his patience… or before another girl comes along." She winked once, and Rin reacted to her words first with horror, putting her hands on her face as if screaming, before regaining control. This only caused Yui some more amusement as she reached for Ena's chair. "When I was your age, your father was all hesitant, you know? He hovered a little around me, he was almost… scared of me, you know!" 

"Well, you never quite told me about it." Rin calmed down. "Dad was… huh." In her fifteen years of existence in this world, Rin hadn't truly discovered the reason why her parents got together. It'd seems odd, but her parents were always a bit busy with their work, always running around and making just enough money to keep the house and their way of life. They were present in her life, about as much as they could afford, but they were always a bit distracted, because there was always a looming debt to be paid, always a person in a suit to greet and talk sweetly to…

Their new wealth arrived relatively recently, when Rin went on missions and started to receive a shinobi payroll. Ninjas were often paid rather handsomely for completing missions and proving themselves to be competent, so she helped to keep the house afloat. Outwardly, her parents acted as if nothing had changed, but the persons in suit didn't show up again, the shop could afford to be slightly less open and, perhaps the biggest sign, Ena came into the world. 

But even then, now it was her turn to be a bit distant within the family. Always running off to do missions or learn some new technique… Of course, she felt terrible at needing to ignore her family, but she had to do it. 

"So you know, your father liked to spend time with me. He'd try to impress me, by… Well, carrying my bags, chasing off kids who were mean to me, all that stuff. And, well, I have to say but he didn't always quite succeed!" Yui scratched her chin, remembering the days of her youth. "And you know, I thought he was a good friend for a while until I fell in love with him, but because he was always a bit dodgy about his feelings, I was convinced that he didn't quite love me back."

"So what did you do?" Rin asked, after some silent pondering. In hindsight, she felt stupid for not realizing Obito's feelings when they had been childhood friends and on the same team for a while. Perhaps she had realized but didn't confront Obito on them out of fear that she'd turn out to be wrong, or she simply was attracted to Kakashi and didn't want for her Uchiha friend to feel overshadowed in yet another category by admitting, straight-up, that she only saw him as a good friend.

Or she simply was in a situation that ninja training didn't quite take into account. Love is a confusing emotion for many, after all, and Rin simply thought Obito, who was a boy eager to get noticed, did all those things for attention. 

"Well, I gathered my courage and asked him, what else?" Yui chided her daughter a little, but kept her smile. "It was quite hard, I'll admit, but it felt so wonderful when he said yes! When I got home, you know, I kept thinking about that." The older woman looked up to the ceiling. "I was in a couple, now, it made me a lot happier to think of that. Whenever your father or I felt down, the other would be there for them." She said. "It was one of the happiest days of my life! Along with the wedding, and, of course, your birth and Ena's." She tapped her daughter on the forehead a little.

"That's wonderful!" Rin smiled at her mother, feeling reassured. "B-but, how do I just announce it like that?" She wasn't so sure that Kakashi felt the same way she did too. She had managed to say it to him during the Kanabi mission, in the excitation of the moment, but he had simply explained that not so long ago he had been trash willing to abandon her. Rin would disagree, since he did make his way to her (though Obito certainly did a lot to make that possible) but he had managed to dodge the hints sent his way, either by her or her parents, so she was fearful that he'd reject her, either because she wasn't his kind of girl or, more likely, because he had once been willing to abandon her and had also been quite unsuccessful at keeping her safe.   
"Well… You're not forced to do it now, and if you want, I'll stop." Said Yui. "Plus, I doubt that your father will also be dropping hints. It's a matter of going at your own pace, daughter, but you just need to gather your courage eventually. It wasn't easy for me too! But if you do speak up, then, well, maybe he'll think the same! Or maybe he won't, but at least you'll be able to move on. A smart and pretty little girl like you ought to have more than one boy following her!" 

Rin nodded to it all. "Alright. T-thanks, erm, mom." She felt a bit more secure, now. Nodding to her daughter, Yui moved to acquire a chair. "Oh, and by the way, your father was a bit upset when I entered the room. I'd rather not listen to conversations from afar but… Is there anything you haven't told me yet?"

"I'm going to tell it to you soon, don't worry." Rin felt like the confidence building up inside her could help her with the news. Sure, it would be painful to announce the news to them (and her father would, without a doubt, be heavily upset) but it was her duty, and she knew that at least that particular stress would be gone after announcing it. 

"Uwahhhh! Uwahhhh!" 

"Yui! Get the boy his chair!" Ordered Reo from afar.

…

"Ugu." Ena opened his mouth and leaned forward, accepting the small bit of soup held within the spoon offered to him. He clumsily moved one hand as if to grab the tool but only managed to grasp his mother's hand with it, prompting her to coo sweetly at her son. Kakashi pulled his mask up in the meantime and glanced at Yui.

"This was a nice meal. My compliments to you, Ms. Nohara." He said. Rin herself had just been done with it, politely wiping her mouth with a small handkerchief. Reo was about the only one who hadn't touched his food, having just barely managed to eat half of it in the hour that they spent dining. He barely even bothered to look at it most of the time, either glancing at Rin or glancing at the window. She knew enough about her male progenitor to assume that he was currently having a small crisis of a sort, having spent the entire dinner digesting the information bestowed upon him earlier.

"Reo," Yui said, turning towards him. "Your food will get all cold! Though we could always have one of the shinobis in the house use a miniature fireball to heat it!" 

The patriarch of the family slightly pushed his plate away and sat straight up. "I'd rather have them explain what they meant when they said that Rin was going to be out of the village by tomorrow."

"Again?" Yui's eyes widened. "Rin! Why'd you leave again?" Their daughter shrunk in her chair, having almost expected her mother to side with her on this one. However, Rin frowned and decided to also correct her sitting posture. 

"Kakashi, erm… Could you be a dear and see if Ena won't need to be fed with a baby bottle?" She asked. "There should be one in the kitchen!"  
Kakashi seemed a little confused at first, but realized that this was meant to be a family business. Rin knew it was harsh to almost exile him out of it, but she didn't want her friend to be caught up in something like that, and also didn't wish for Ena to see conflict amongst his family. The hero of the Sharingan, and the man who had copied a hundred Jutsus (according to rumors) nodded and picked up the baby, making a bunch of silly faces behind his mask. Ena seemed confused but let himself be grasped relatively easily, grasping his current carrier's clothing and looking back at his family in confusion.

On the way, the white-haired man made a glance, as if asking her if she remembered the excuse they had come up with, and she nodded affirmatively before turning to her family. "There's a bunch of wounded soldiers heading back to Tanzaku. A few medic-ninjas and I will head there to heal them." Said Rin. "It's a safe trip! Tanzaku is close to Konoha and no enemy forces had been reported to be within it. I'll even send you pictures while I'm there if you want!"

"It doesn't matter where you go, Rin, what matters is what you leave behind as you do." Insisted Reo. "Those past months, while you were gone, we were worried sick about you! You, our daughter, captured by those Mist freaks and locked away in a prison while they could do god-knows-what… Do you know just how worried we were about you? Especially when we learned that you'd have to stay at the hospital for a month?!"

"Rin, dear, I think that it's very brave of you to help those people! But… We don't see much of you on average, and you've just been freed from captivity! You can afford yourself to rest here." Said Yui. "Is there something that annoys you with us, dear?"

Rin realized that it would be harder than she thought but hanged on. "W-well, I need to make some money first." She said. "The business…"

"The business will do fine. They ought to give us insurance and… and besides, money isn't a good reason to send you off to danger again. We will do with what we have, and we'll tough it out. I will not have my daughter endanger her life for me!"

"I know that we're hardly at Kazuya Furuhoshi's level of wealth but we're ready to do away with what we've gained if it can protect you. I was always a bit ashamed to live on your money." Yui scratched the back of her head. "It's great that you can live like that! And I'm grateful! But we were never fond of only thriving because our daughter was putting her life in danger. It's a matter of pride, I assume. Just a foolish old woman…" 

Why was it so hard? Rin struggled not to cry. Both in frustration at her parents for refusing to see her go but also, and mostly, because deep in her heart she found it harder and harder to convince them to let her go. It had been small, but something like just talking to her mother or interacting with her baby brother made her want to stay, training be damned… But the Shinobi in her knew that this was not an option. It had never been, not ever since she'd been made the host of a beast more than capable of warping entire nations by sheer strength.

"I can't…" Rin tried to remain composed, but stopped to try to fight back against the tears that were building up. Eventually, she just sat straight up and let them flew. "I can't! I can't go back home! As much as I want to, I just…" Obito's half-crushed body appeared in her mind. "I just can't… I can't just walk away from this. There are people who need my help, who need healing. I… I've seen suffering up close, and I know that it's going everywhere in the world at the moment." She bit her lips. "But if I can lessen it, even by a little, I…I can't just go back to the family business and let it all roll over me."

"You're not a messiah, Rin!" Reo pleaded. Rin was surprised to see him leave his chair to get on his knees: To her surprise, her father, who had always been strong and a bit emotionally distant, got on his knees and let his head hit the ground, as if sincerely pleading. "You're our daughter! And we can't just take those missions anymore! When you said that you wanted to become a Shinobi instead of a woodcarver, we accepted. When you faltered in your studies, we encouraged you. When your friend… passed away, we comforted you!" He looked up, his eyes full of tears. "But we can't close our eyes on this anymore! Rin! You've been in danger twice and you've seen things that no person should ever see! We just want you to be safe!" He put his hand on his chest. "I'm not looking to take your dream away, Rin! But do you even have the same dream now? Do you still enjoy being a ninja?"

Rin didn't find her answer, and simply froze, making herself vulnerable to Yui's intervention. Her mother wasn't as emotive as her father about this, but she was hardly keeping herself together nonetheless. "We… we never liked the idea of you being on the frontlines, even as a medic, but we supported you through all of this. But now it's just impossible for us to close our eyes to this. Besides, Rin, as your father said, do you even enjoy being a Kunoichi anymore? Why do you insist to continue doing something that has hurt you so much through the years?"

"I… I've always known you were never fond of the family business, and that you wished for something that would go beyond this yet…" Reo wiped his eyes quickly. "… Is being the daughter of woodcarvers that much of a shame to you?"

"No!" She denied, pulling herself out of her trance. "But I…I can't go home!"

"Why?" Reo's usual commanding tone crept back into his voice ever so slightly. "What have they done to earn your loy-would it be a seal?!" He asked, shocked. "Something to keep you in?"

"No, it's not a seal, I…" The excuses looped back into her mind but each was a dead end. "… Yes, being a woodcarver never intrigued me." She admitted. "I saw those people doing amazing stunts in the street and… and being treated like heroes too." Rin admitted. "I wanted to… help people. And I also wanted to be noticed by them. To be thanked, I guess."

Her parents listened to her quietly, but realization crept on their faces., and their daughter wiped her tears away. "I'm a ninja not because I enjoy it, but because it allows me to reach the world, in away. Like I wanted to meet it." She put her hand on her chest, unknowingly imitating her father. "Being a woodcarver is honest work, but I don't think I would've been able to bond with people like Kakashi, or Minato, or Kushina, or even Gai." She wondered how he was doing. "… Maybe I would've met them, but I would not have been able to bond with them I guess. And… and maybe I feel that the bonds and the relief I can give to people through healing offset the negativity."  
Rin smiled, slowly finding her mark. "Negativity is a part of life, and we all eventually falter, but I've done too much to run away now. If I stay, then what if I regret it eventually? What if I keep thinking back of those people I could've saved?" Her eyes lowered to look at her hands, which she closed afterward. "You've both been good parents to me, and I know why you feel like it's dangerous, but the war will be over soon, I'm heading somewhere safe and, who knows, maybe that will cure me of my negativity. Maybe I'll do a miraculous life-saving intervention, maybe I'll get the courage to say something precious to someone." She glanced at her mother. "I can't leave my path when it gets a bit difficult to go through, because what's the point of having one then?"

Reo looked away, and the authority he had garnered for himself so far. Briefly, his ordinarily terse facial features fell to the wayside, showing how tired he was underneath it all. After a bit of hesitation, he got up and embraced his daughter in silence, which she answered by embracing back. He wasn't crying, not after he already did, but it certainly felt like he was. Yui eventually silently joined them both.

After a solid five minutes, Reo backed off and sighed deeply. "… I see your point. I do not think that you're in the wrong for showing doubt, but I see why you'd think it that way. Your mother and I may seem like we're forbidding you from your fantasy but we just don't want you to… We just don't want bad things to happen to you." He held her hands. "When you were born, when I laid my eyes on you for the first time, I saw a very fragile baby." He nodded to Yui. "You were so small… I swore that I would always protect you from harm, and I felt sick at the idea that anything wrong could even happen to you."

The youth nodded. Her mother's friends loved to talk about how she had been considered something of a "miracle baby", having been small from the get-go.

"… But you're not a baby anymore, aren't you? You're a grown girl." Said Yui. "You can take your own decisions. You're not quite an adult, but you're certainly becoming one. If I were, to be honest, I still want to keep you close but maybe you're right? Maybe happiness is at the corner, right?" Her mother smiled. "I'm sure that you'll save a lot of people. Don't let your old mother stop you from doing the right thing. But if you truly falter, and it all truly gets too much, don't forget that we're here, right? We'll always be willing to take you in, don't ever forget that please!"

Reo sighed again and folded his arms. "You're on your way to becoming a woman, with the responsibility that this entails… I will not stand in your path, but perhaps we should talk once this war is over, so that we may solve the issues within the family once and for all."

"… Thanks, dad." Rin admitted. But the guilt caught her by surprise: Could she return to normal like everyone else after the war? Wouldn't there be a need for further training? Restrictive measures? Other rules to make her a potent weapon? Perhaps she needed to tell them here and now? No, she had already built a story. If she announced that she was a weapon, who knew what would happen?

Better to just be happy about "passing", so to say. Rin smiled after saying her words. "Well, I guess we should work on making this night worth it! How about-"

The door rang, and the Nohara, taken by surprise, turned toward it, glancing at the wooden door. Rin, being the closest, stepped towards it but only took two steps before Kakashi appeared in front of her, not carrying Ena any longer. "Wait, Rin." He said. "We need to be cautious. Hang back with your parents." As he said that, Kakashi checked from behind the curtains, and moved his headband ever so slightly, though his Sharingan remained well concealed behind some hair. 

Behind the door stood two Konoha shinobis, who were politely waiting for them to open. A harmless-enough situation, at first, but the young prodigy headed carefully towards the door. Rin understood that something was going on but needed to address her brother's absence first. "Kakashi, where-"

"Upstairs. He's safe with a clone, don't worry." He spoke quietly and gestured at her to do the same. "There's nothing wrong, but I want to be careful. Please, wait for me to deal with this." Rin prepared to fire back about being ready, but now was not the time to argue… and besides, it's not like Kakashi was in the wrong. Backing off, she stood near her parents while her teammate opened the door, allowing the two Shinobis inside. It'd be more correct to say that they saw the door open ever so slightly and tried to get in. Kakashi didn't put up much of a fight and simply backed off. What Rin then noticed though was the kitchen knife that he had put on a small pocket in his back.

"Hello! Nice house, Mr. and Ms.Nohara!" The two Leaf shinobis were rather harmless-looking. The first one was tall, but with a youthful face and a bandana-like headband that covered the upper part of his head. The woman looked a bit older and had orange hair with a ponytail to go along with it. Their uniforms were nondescript, and they showed proper respect by bowing to Kakashi, their superior. "We humbly ask to interrupt your dinner though! See this as no malice in our part, but Ms. Afuma desire to speak with Rin about the matters of the Tanzaku affair. Nothing important, I assure you!" The woman held up her hands, holding a scroll on her left one and handling it to Kakashi. After studying it, he opened it up, having made sure that there wasn't chakra within it.

There was a formal request from the head doctor of the nearest hospital, yes, and the calligraphy was accurate. Kakashi knew that copying a victim's handwriting was a skill mastered by all competent Ninjas, but there wasn't even the smallest sign that a foreign hand had written it. And nothing relating to Rin's true "purpose" was revealed within the scrolls. It merely asked if Rin would be ready to take up some tests during the voyage, to see if her healing skills hadn't become rusty. 

"If you wish, you could come with us, as a token of trust. We've received Minato's approval, and he's told us that your presence would help out our little soldier!"

Indeed, Minato's signature had been put on the scroll. Once again, it was perfect. Of course, they had been pretty fast with it, but it was possible that Minato transported them to the village and they saw him first. Or they had used some high-speed transport, like a summon. It's not like the training ground was too far after all.

"… Alright." Said Kakashi. Rin couldn't help but be a little nervous though. She was glad that it wasn't anything wrong it seemed, but the soldiers were a bit too expressive? They weren't doing anything too exaggerated of course, yet she noticed how the man was always moving his fingers or glancing somewhere and smiling. Even the woman tipped from one side to the other, shoved her hands in her pockets before putting them back in, tilted her head… They could simply be nervous, but showing stress was hardly the Shinobi's way unless the situation was dire.

"… What does the foolish man do when, by moving his hand, he failed to grasp the moon?"

"He jumps." They both immediately answered. The synchronism they displayed made Rin's attention truly snap to them, vague survival tips from the good books flowing back to her brain while she waited for Kakashi to answer. In case you are dealing with a case of Bunshin, do not panic. Lure the target into believing that they are carrying out a successful deceiving and prepare an escape. If civilians are nearby or escape is impossible, adopt the best position to carry out a surprise attack. 

Attacking wasn't her style since she still lacked Jutsus, so Rin spread her arms ever so slightly to serve as a shield just in case things got ugly, smiling cheerily when the woman turned to look at her. Ena is in the back with a clone. She told herself. He's probably better protected than you are. 

"… Good answer." Kakashi said. "For the wrong operation." Upon hearing this, the operatives blinked once and the man, without missing a beat, closed the door. Their agreeable demeanor fell to the side instantly and they switched stances, instantly adopting a rigid position. Their cheery faces froze into a look of pure apathy, though there seemed to be anger ever so present within their eyes as they glared at Kakashi. In a single second, they had stopped pretending to be humans.

The two statues prepared to attack but Kakashi was quicker on the draw, and the hero of the Sharingan performed a jump while pulling out the knife, in a manner that would've gotten him praise from the Samurai in the country of Iron. The blade, now coated in regular chakra, proved sharp enough to easily slice through their necks and the speed of his movement easily overwhelmed both shinobis. Their heads fell, soon accompanied by their bodies and Yui's sudden screaming at the violence. 

"Kakashi! Who we-" Rin gasped as the ninja's remains melted into water, including their heads. Understanding what had just happened, Kakashi turned to the pantry in time to see the two hunters leap out of the shadow towards the small family, having dropped their disguises midway through. How they snuck in, he didn't know, and theories would be for a later time, when two innocent civilians and Rin would be away from the two bloodthirsty thugs sent their way. Unlike the woman from the Mist, the two hunters attacked immediately, each dashing across the room in an attempt to reach the family, though they kept some distance to avoid being caught in the same technique. Not that they were giving Kakashi the time he'd need to make a single Jutsu.

Drawing his sword, the youth threw the chakra-covered knife and leaped across the room to directly attack the woman, hoping that his projectile would be able to take care of the man. "Run, Rin!" He warned. Unfortunately, the real deals were not quite as slow as their copies, as Kakashi discovered when the hunter drew a small blade to counter the blow. His Sharingan quickly warned him of an upwards kick, which he managed to dodge in time to retaliate with a sideways swipe. The masked woman pointed her sword down and sparks flew as the blades met, Kakashi cursed silently under his breath, but attempted to press on the assault.

His enemy's partner dodged the knife and continued to run at the little family. With his speed and the distance between them, he would very easily reach Reo and Yui before they could even start moving, so Rin practically flung herself at the hunter, hoping that her bold manoeuver would confuse him, or at least that he'd switch targets. He could only be there for one reason after all! "Run, dad, m-" With swiftness unexpected of one of his size, the hunter struck Rin across the face with a fierce backhand, sending her crashing to the ground harshly enough to briefly bounce off it before landing in a heap.

Never in her life had she been struck this hard. Keeping her consciousness alone was already a daunting task, but the lunch that she had just consumed was getting dangerously close to spilling out and the sounds of struggles had been entirely replaced with an infernal ringing noise, making the headache that she had just gotten even more painful. The universe saw fit to have her hear the horror in her parent's voices as they called out her name though, and even with her vision reduced to blurry shapes and blobs of light, she could still recognize her father throwing the fiercest punch he could muster at his enemy.

Unfortunately enough, there was so much that the fury of a parent could do. Reo had the righteous drive to protect his family from an intruder, but said intruder was bigger, more skilled and had experiences growing up in the bloody mist. The masked man effortlessly blocked the punch thrown his way and, with a casual movement of the hand that had blocked it, snapped the older man's wrist before punching him in the face, knocking Reo down to the floor with a mere two hits.

"DAD!" Rin immediately tried to rejoin the "fight" but barely managed to crawl on her feet before she slipped on her stomach. Blood leaked from the top of her head, forcing her to close an eye and further hampering her vision. Still, she could see the Hunter nonchalantly pull a knife out of his pocket, apparently deciding who'd go first between the two. Yui was close enough to the door to try (with emphasis on the word) an escape, but the sight of her husband and daughter knocked to the ground all but paralyzed her. And Reo was too weak to move, if he was even conscious. 

The weak would be culled first. Such was the Mist's motto, so the hunter decided that Reo would go first, raising his knife and putting his foot on his torso to prevent a last-ditch resistance. Kakashi noticed the desperate situation and desperately tried to reach the Noharas, but his opponent yanked him by the collar and threw him into the table, splitting it in two as if it had been built out of paper.

Kakashi was preoccupied, Rin was on the verge of passing out… Who could save them at this point? Rin dug her fingers into the ground and grit her teeth at the unfairness of it all. How could the Mist get in? How could they manage to keep her claws on her even when she was on the safest place on Earth? Why were her parents caught in the crossfire and about to be executed by some brute crawled out of a blood-soaked gutter?  
Her anger and her despair coalesced into one, and Rin made her third attempt at getting up as the knife swung down…

And then, before even she realized it, she was standing above her father and next to the inhabitant of the Mist, holding the latter's knife-holding arm in a vicious grip, standing tall as if she hadn't spent the last seconds crawling on the ground. The Hidden Mist ninja's face was concealed, and he kept his body language rigid even in surprise, but alas the statue made a sound. Nothing but a small surprised gasp, but still an admittance that something had gone wrong.

"Rin?" Yui questioned, noticing how her daughter kept her head low. After a few seconds, the chûnin tightened her grip further and glanced at the ninja: Her left eye, the one that wasn't closed because of the blood on her head, was now red, with a spiral-like pattern forming around a yellow pupil. That, and the superior strength, speed, and ability to recover from an injury that had her all but out cold… The hunter meant to cause her to unleash its power, but never in such a controlled form!

"I'm fine, mom." Rin delivered an overpowering punch to her enemy's stomach and, despite a size difference of quite a few feet, the ninja immediately buckled forward, putting his one available arm over his stomach and dropping the knife. Staying mostly silent even in defeat, he groaned only once before going down, falling on his back like a bag of bricks and leaving his partner as the last one standing. 

"Wh-" The woman took her eyes off her fight for one second to look at what had happened, and Kakashi quickly exploited that small window of time. 

"Leaf Hurricane!" Using his village's famed taijutsu style, Kakashi socked the woman in the face with a vicious kick, breaking the mask to reveal her soft features (that were quickly about to stop being that way) and knocking her out cold with a single blow. To make sure of his victory, he gave another kick before quickly rushing to Rin, who was emotionlessly standing over her opponent's body. 

"Kakashi?" Rin looked up to him, and he noticed her special eyes. To avoid furthering panicking both parents, the youth suppressed his surprise and put his hands on Rin's shoulders, quickly checking for injuries. She had been hit hard on the head, standing still and speaking, in her condition, was an utter miracle. "The gad buys…" The medic barely managed to slur out the words before she bizarrely moved her head, her eyes going back to normal in the span of a few blinks. 

"They're beaten. You're all safe." The clone came from downstairs, hugging a crying Ena, and Kakashi sighed. Rin smiled widely, as if she'd been told a good joke, and leaned forward.

"Good." And, with that, she finally passed out…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well! That's chapter four done! What did you think of it? I can't help but think I botched the family scenes but I hope the more action-y parts were enjoyable! The fic's a slow burn for now but I promise that things will get more Shonen-y later on!
> 
> We see the Noharas, a hint of the Three-Tails's power and other stuff. Who let those hunters in? What will happen now? I guess we'll find out next week! And yes, it's weekly! It seems to stick to Mondays, haha, but I might post later than this.
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed the chapter! Don't forget to post a review if you want, I like seeing feedback! It helps me out!
> 
> Well, see ya later!


	5. Insidious threat.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The best position for the enemy to be in is behind your back.

To say that Rin Nohara was under a ton of stress would be, without a doubt, a major understatement.

The young girl was currently sitting in the hospital's waiting room, clutching Kakashi's hand as if letting go for even the slightest second would somehow sweep her off her feet and send her hurling off into the sky. Her other hand was used to cradle young Ena, who seemed to be discontent because of the sheer tension in the room and especially within his younger sister, waging his little arms and feet and cooing at times. The more the situation progressed, the more it impacted the baby, who was getting closer and closer to crying even when his older sister desperately tried to console him with whatever silly faces she could think up. 

Rin herself was amazed that she wasn't in one of the hospital rooms, since mere hours had gone between the confrontation in her house and her current presence in the building. As a medic, Rin knew that a lot of Jutsus specialized in taking care of specific injuries or diseases. The healing hand technique was but the beginning of it, and only took care of more minor wounds. For cases like her concussion, more medics had to be gathered (and the process took place in one hour apparently) but they proved effective: Apart from the bandage around her head, a "precaution" according to the head doctor, the young Kunoichi looked impeccable, even if she still felt a little foggy and had some troubles remembering her recent memories. Nothing that wouldn't be gone after some sleep though.

She was more concerned about her father, who had just been struck two times by a hunter. Now, the fact that he had faced a hunter but was "easily treatable", as told by the doctor, was already pretty lucky of him, but it did little to ease Rin. While he had always been a pretty distant man, he was still her dad, and for most of Rin's (admittedly young) life, she knew to rely on her dad when trouble came along. Seeing him being so easily overpowered and laid out cold was troubling to her, but even more troubling was her parents being put in danger, and those hunters sneaking in her own home, within the village, to do so.

Was she as safe as she thought she was? At any moment, could one of the orderlies or even patients within the waiting room decide to leap out of their seats to try to attack her? When Rin wasn't trying to cheer up Ena, she was observing everyone in the room as if they had a hidden blade concealed within them, and she didn't trust the ANBUs gathered around them to help out. Their stoic demeanor and masked faces creeped her out more than anything. 

"Are you alright?" Kakashi questioned, from time to time. Rin nodded a little. 

"I'm good. Just a little…" The word briefly escaped her. "Foggy? Is that a word?"

"Yes." Said Kakashi, as serious as ever. Then, he looked away. "I'm sorry, Rin." The young girl said nothing and just tilted her head. "I was tasked with protecting you and your family, but when they needed me the most… I couldn't defeat even one hunter in time. I should've been more careful, and maybe some more clones would've been…"

"Don't worry about it Kakashi," Rin reassured. "No… no one could've predicted this, right? And besides, we're all alive. Dad got injured but he'll make it through. We're fine." She spoke to herself just as well as she spoke to her teammate. The young prodigy seemed to have realized this, though he stared at the ground in uncomfortable silence for a little while.

"… Thanks to you and your power." He finally admitted. Rin blinked, and the memory of her inexplicable power boost came back to her. In a second, the rather fragile medic managed to grossly outspeed and overpower an elite ninja from the Mist, laying him out cold with the use of a single blow even when he was far bigger than her. It had been a pleasing, if short, sensation. Rin, for once, hadn't been weak or cowering, but strong. Easily strong enough to save her parent and disable an oppressor before he could shatter her family. 

"Well, you knocked out the other one, right?" Rin would've liked to continue the conversation, but there were other civilians assembled here, and she knew that it wouldn't be wise to reveal something about her status as a Jinchuuriki. But still, was that the power available to her? Could she master it to be able to so easily defeat her foes? Even if she was pretty troubled as of now, she was happy at the idea that she'd eventually become this strong on her own. It was a single little ray of light to be found, she guessed.

"… The Hunters are being held in a facility, and will be interrogated. They were presumably going for my Sharingan. Or they intended to get revenge on us for disturbing their operation." He spoke, a little more aloud. "There will be more guards now, so don't worry."

"I'm… not worried." She lied. Kakashi looked at her, and the youth relented. "I'm worried. How did they-"

All of a sudden, before either ninjas could realize what had just happened, Minato teleported right in front of them, surprising even the ANBUs. "Rin, Kakashi! Are you alright?" He questioned. Rin wondered how he got in, and then remembered that the seal posed on Kakashi's armor allowed Minato to teleport straight to his team. The young blond sighed a little in relief when he saw that both his remaining students were doing well, even if Rin had a bandage around her head. 

"Teacher!" Rin pointed out. "Y-yes. Well, I had a concussion but I'm pretty fine! I just need time to repucer… Recuperate!" The young medic pointed out, vainly trying to keep her smile up. He nodded to her. Kakashi, unlike Rin, didn't visibly react after the initial surprise, and just slumped into his seat. 

"We are doing fine, thank you." He said. Minato's eyes hovered towards the bandage and their rather downcast attitude, and the Yellow Flash closed his eyes in frustration. 

"I'm sorry, you two. I've been absent once more." There was a bitterness to his tone that did not go unnoticed, though Rin understood why. Despite his prestigious title and ability to seamlessly travel across the continent in mere seconds, Minato had been unable to arrive in time to stop what could've been a tragedy. "Rin, how are your parents?" He glanced down at Ena, who had seemingly been snapped out of his near-crying by Minato's appearance, happily giggling whereas everyone else had been surprised. The blond beamed back at him, as if to reassure Ena. 

"They're… Mom is standing by near Dad, but he's fine. His injuries are… they're easily treatable." She said. "C-could I talk to you? Hum, all alone?" She said. Minato didn't look surprised by the request, but Rin, in a manner that surprised both men, asserted herself rather quickly, gently placing Ena into Kakashi's arms and standing up. "There should be a room right?"

"Well." Minato couldn't help but point out, smiling awkwardly. "I just teleported there."

"Oh." Rin blushed at her mistake.

…

Finding an empty room in the hospital was not exactly easy in these times of wars, even if, of course, the hospital had more room to spare than those in the countryside, where the violent fights were happening. Still, there were a lot of accidents to be found in a city where children and teenagers were taught to throw small sharp projectiles or fireballs. Minato and Rin only managed to find a proper spot to talk into because of the former's reputation, which allowed him to pretty much get away with any request short of burning down the faculty itself.

"Is there anything you'd want to say to me?" Minato was too polite to point out that Rin would likely get all the time she needed to ask him something in private. The young girl did go through yet another shocking event, and he didn't feel like it'd be right if he just blew her off. And while she had Kakashi, he would be damned if he just had his pupil handle all the emotional support. He had needed only one glance to know that Sakumo's son had been deeply affected by the attack, though in his case, it was his impossibility to stop it before innocent lives were injured. 

He'd need to talk about it with him. Rin was the main "star" of course, but the youth had his demons and Minato was not going to neglect him. Not when he already felt like his neglect was to blame for the team's current condition.

"Yes, well, erm…" Rin, who was sitting on a chair, struggled to come up with whatever she wanted to say, often repeating words before frowning. "Teacher. I want to talk with you briefly to ask you, could the training…"

Be delayed? Minato steeled himself. Hiruzen would grant him that but not Danzo. The girl was targeted, so she had to make herself useful. They could not simply keep her in Konoha, she'd need to endure the pain because that is the goal of a Shinobi… He had seen Danzo interferes in matters enough time to know what arguments he'd use, and the other elders in the Leaf, sadly enough, agreed with their fellows more often than not.

As a brief history lesson, Hiruzen, Danzo, Koharu and Homura were the last members of what had been called "Team Tobirama", a prestigious cadre of promising ninjas under the protection of the Second himself. All four were the last survivors of the team, granting them some prestige. Sadly enough, more than half of the survivors had retained a warped version of the ideals taught by their elders. As a result, all three would eventually agree, and their reputation as the pupils of the Second and survivors of two world wars (soon three, since they took dangerous missions even now) made it difficult for the clan heads to oppose, including the mighty Hyugas themselves. As a result, if Koharu and Homura decided that Rin would need training, there was sadly little left to do. And those two crones could be even worse than Danzo when it came to matters.

"… Could you train me with everything you have?" 

"I'm sorry, Rin, but… huh?" Minato, for the second time now, had expected a different answer out of his pupil. Looking at her now, he could see a new fire in her eyes and her stance. 

"I'm… I'm weak." She admitted. "I've realized it when those brutes broke in. Please, if you're asked to delay the training or hold back, please, don't do so." Rin shook her head. "It's a bit similar to what I told you earlier in the day, I guess." The youth chuckled. "But… But I guess my point had to come across even after what happened. I still want to train, and I still want to be able to save my family or my friend when the danger will come. That attack by Kiri had only reinforced my will."

Minato nodded calmly. "I understand." He said. "Well, I never planned to go easy on you, since you'll need to get strong pretty fast." The elite ninja chuckled. "But I see. I'll make sure that you'll be able to receive the training you yearn for. Buuuut." He raised one finger, and slyly closed one eye. "Don't complain if it ends up being difficult! I know that you're a tough girl, Rin, so that's why I'll make it extra tough!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Rin swung her legs and beamed happily, recovering some of the optimism lost in the earlier bout. However, she grew a bit serious again. "But wait, erm… Has Kakashi told you how we made it through?" Minato shook his head and sat back in his seat. "W-well, I think it's tied to the Three-Tails. Erm, when I saw my dad on the floor I-"

Minato's eyes widened. "You got mad, right?" Rin nodded hurriedly, and shrunk in her seat, like a kid after admitting that they did something bad. The Jônin calmly raised two hands, to reassure her. "It's not too bad. When a Jinchuuriki is exposed to a burst of negative emotions, their seal ends up weakened and the Tailed Beast's power leaks out. What did you feel like?"

"I felt… strong." Rin moved her hand up as if holding an object. "Like I could hold up the world. It felt…" The medic bit her lips. "I didn't feel like I was lagging behind for once. I was strong."

"I see. Rin, this power is tempting but be careful with it." Minato leaned forward and put on a serious face. "You've seemingly unlocked the earliest form of it, but as more chakra leak, it will aggregate into a cloak, and said cloak will form a tail. The more tails, the stronger you'll get, but the stronger the beast's hold will be on your mind and body." Rin looked a little shocked at this point. "Tapping into the first part of it, what you just experienced, will be a part of the training. However, you must not try to summon the cloak."

"Why?" Asked Rin, who couldn't help but be curious. And a little worried, too.

"The level of chakra here is too great to be easily handled by a human mind. Perfect Jinchuurikis, like Yagura, have needed years to keep their intellect when using it. You could risk losing your mind, and I'd rather not have that happen to you." He declared. "The initial state will give you the physicals needed to keep up, but you'll also be able to control yourself. It will be as far as we'll go with it. The rest of your training will involve more regular fields of studies."

Rin was as worried about the news as she was excited. All that power, available to her after this training? Finally, she'd have the means to keep up with the others! "Alright, so I must not get angry, right?"

"That's a complicated question. Anger doesn't go away. It accumulates, get to a boiling point explodes. What you'll need to is to keep a straight head. If you see a friend get hurt, you can always heal them, for instance. I… Know that it's something easier to say than do, but keeping your cool under battle is essential for high-ranked shinobis."

Rin pondered on it. Could she still cry now? Or even feel sad? Would that cause the chakra to leak out? Fortunately, Minato almost read her mind. "A sudden burst of emotions is what weakens the seal. Crying or feeling sad won't weaken it as much as sudden rage. It's alright to feel upset." He got up from his chair at that point. "I'm going to need to talk with Lord Hokage, but we'll talk about it tomorrow. I'd like to talk to you more about it right now but I'm needed elsewhere." He glanced at the door, having heard some ANBUs gathering. "Where will you be staying?"

"Hm… My home is a crime scene, so I don't know, hehe…" Rin's eyes widened a little. "I'll… I'll probably stay here. It's still a bit scary to know that anyone here could be a hunter though. How did they get in?"

"That's what everyone in the village is working hard to discover. We've made sure that the ANBUs stationed nearby are trustworthy and also…" He pulled out one of his famous Kunais and handed it to her. "If you ever need my help, or if we learn that there's a threat, I'll be by your side in a second. I should've done this from the start but I didn't want to make you think that there could be danger tonight." 

Rin respectfully put the weapon in a pouch and smiled. "It's alright, erm, thanks, teacher!" Minato nodded, and both left the room, just in time for a nurse to approach them. 

"Miss Nohara? Your father has awoken." She informed them, bowing to Minato beforehand. Rin smiled, ignoring the nagging little voice that warned her that there might just be a hunter ready to swoop in and kidnap her. 

"That's great!" Rin looked at Minato. "You won't be mad if I go to visit him, right?" Minato laughed and shook his head as if to say no, prompting the young girl to happily skip towards her father's room. On the way through, he nodded to the nurse, and she did the same thing. Once he was done with the instructions, Minato teleported away. Meanwhile, while her teacher was off using space-time as a taxi to his next destination, Rin carried herself to her family with her own two legs, happily gesturing at Kakashi. The silver-haired youth pointed at himself briefly and got up while trying to safeguard his face from the prying hands of a curious Ena. 

As Rin accessed the room, she could see that her father had some bandages on his face and his wrist had to be held in a sling. She remembered that worse things happened to people who stood in the ways of hunters (let alone were targeted by them) and had seen her fair share of violence already, but she winced slightly. Though perhaps the wincing had to do with her mother's distress, something that Rin had never seen within her (admittedly short) lifetime. Yui calmed down slightly upon realizing that it was her daughter though, and said daughter immediately went to hug both her parents!

"Ow. Careful." Advised Reo, with a slight blush (of all things), eyeing the people watching the scene until Kakashi wisely closed the door. "… Hm, no, perhaps I should thank you." He said. "And sorry… for failing to protect you." The older man sighed. "I swore that I would protect you from the world's evil but as soon as it came knocking, it was you who had to put your life in danger to save me." He sniffled slightly, and it became obvious that he was trying not to cry, though he resisted the temptation. "… Can you promise your mother and I one thing?"

"Yes?" Rin held his other hand along with her mother, who remained silent for now.

"Please, be careful, alright? I won't try to get you to stay home, since… Since it's crushingly apparent that we can't defend you from harm, but please, please, stay safe, alright?" He tried to squeeze his hand. "It's clear that all of this… Those things with Kiri are far beyond what your mother and I can handle both, and that's what I feared would happen all those years ago. I've seen how you effortlessly beat that brute from the mist and I know you're strong but please, stay careful, alright?"

"I'm not going to question that sudden power either." Said Yui. "It must be a weird technique that my civilians ears cannot comprehend. However, please, Rin, please avoid danger. I'm begging you. If you see an enemy ninja, just flee. There's no shame in abandoning a fight where you can only lose." Her mother sighed. "Promise us that, Rin."

"I…" Rin glanced at Kakashi. "I will. But don't worry about it." She assured. "I'm going to try to become strong while I'm away, so if some jerk comes again, I'll be able to save you both! You both did your best to ensure that I could live a comfortable life thus far." She thought of their work routine when she was a child briefly. "So I'm going to return the favor. We'll all stay together." At this, she glanced at Kakashi and signaled him to get a bit closer.

This seemed to surprise the young shinobi, but he accepted it nonetheless, though it seemed like he believed that he was only getting closer so that Ena could be brought to the little family hug. Rin saw fit to try to correct him of that notion when she raised her arm and tried to wrap it around his back, encouraging him to step even closer. "It's a shame that the diner was ruined but I guess we still have our little moment to spend together." She had declared. Reo glanced at Kakashi but accepted him within the hug.

"Just don't ask me to hug you all, moving my wrist hurt." He said. Yui laughed slightly and embraced the rest of her family. Kakashi nodded to Rin and accepted to be, briefly, a part of the Nohara, while Ena seemed simply confused until Rin smiled at him. It was, perhaps, a little silly-looking but Rin couldn't care less. They had gone through a rather intense event together and she didn't want for her nice to be entirely wasted.

For now, she simply happily embraced her last night with her family, disrupted as it had been.

…

The Hidden Leaf had several facilities to deal with prisoners that dwelled within it. Regular prisons were for drunkards, petty thugs or other minor disruptions, more secret and secure prisons were there for spies or traitors that had been caught and the place where Minato stood, called the "Graveyard" in other villages, was where the ninjas from special forces were sent to after being captured. Information was scarce, but no one left the place alive, fittingly. 

It was cut in several levels, each larger than the last. The first levels held various drugs and other supplies, the middle levels held reunion rooms or places where autopsies or analyses could be done and, finally, the lower levels contained the slain ninjas. To leave the place, one had to take the stairs on the first level… And one also had to tread lightly, because a Genjutsu had been placed on the stairs, and taking the wrong path in the maze of stairs could lead to a strong illusion being placed, to further cause confusion and prevent an escape. The precise path was taught to the people who worked in the Graveyard, though they had no map to prevent an easy escape.

The lab was located underground, and was bright to the point of saturation, revealing that its white walls were quite clean (though had the odd red mark here and there). The place was both busy yet quiet, people often walked across its halls but they never spoke up or never even greeted each other. The entire building was a well-working engine, and all the ninjas within it were cogs, working together to ensure its success. As a result, it was oddly silent despite its size. 

Most of those ninjas rarely worked within it though. The building was kept on "low activity" for most of the war, and was only activated when powerful shinobis or enemy special forces units were caught. 

Enemy shinobis had every bit of useful information squeezed out of them before being squashed. And to ensure that every bit would be used, the Yamanaka's and other clans were hard at work.

Minato was not surprised to arrive in the middle of an encounter between Inoichi, the new head of the clan Yamanaka, and the Hokage. While Inoichi stopped, mildly surprised, the Third simply chuckled and tipped his hat at the blond. "Hello, Minato. Is Nohara doing well?" He could appreciate how Hiruzen avoided calling her a "Jinchuuriki", like some higher instances of the village, had taken up to.

"Yes, though she's affected by it. She asked me not to drop the training, though… But I'm going to need some help with that." Minato stood up and eyed Inoichi. The blond man prepared to speak up, but footsteps resonated in the room, and all three men eyed the approaching Fugaku Uchiha. 

"And the Uchihas will help you do just that, Yellow Flash." Said the dark-haired man. Granting an Uchiha access to the building was a risky move, but Hiruzen believed that Fugaku, as the eminent head of the police department, needed to have access to some of the dangerous criminals that his force would capture so that he could use his fantastic eye powers to help with the interrogation. Minato hadn't seen the man too much, but he had taken up the mission that would've prevented him from rescuing Kakashi and Rin, so he was grateful towards him. 

"Ah, Fugaku. Perfect." Inoichi hid his annoyance well. "Come, Lord Third, Minato, Fugaku, we've managed to break some of the traps placed within their mindscape." All men started to head down the stairs, passing by the white halls and rooms containing three people with the same face. The Shadow Clone Jutsu was a rather useful way to have a lot of activities at once.

Not all the workers here were clones, of course, but Minato assessed that they made up a good portion of it nonetheless. 

"The Hunters have assassinated Shido Ibuza to enter Konoha." Said Fugaku, opting to present his side of the investigation. "They've done unusually sloppy works for hunters. We've found two locks of hair, one tooth, part of his skin too." He said. "They made a clone of themselves and had it take the form of Shido. The clone went on to take Shido's patrol, and acted in a manner that failed to alert his fellow guards until it vanished, leading to the discovery that it was a clone and subsequent search for him."

"They knew the patrol pattern?" Asked Hiruzen.

"More than that. The clone knew things that only the real one would've known." Interrupted Inoichi. "We've managed to gather their recent memories, and the male one quickly did away with Shido." He glanced at Fugaku, as if silently boasting that his mind probe solved the mystery of Shido easily, whereas the mighty Uchihas had to tatter in the dark for clues. "They also haven't observed him beforehand, like they… knew." Inoichi dramatically opened the door, leading to the final room.

The two Hunters had been put in a brown container (which, appropriately enough for the place, held a resemblance to a coffin) to restrain their movements and prevent activity. The bulky containers had several threads connected to it, to keep them alimented and also slowly drain their chakras. The unconscious hunters were kept in a comatose state by four threads (two for each) that had been implanted into their skulls, though to prevent them from trying something stupid their jaws were kept open so that they wouldn't bite down on their tongue. Two Yamanakas were grasping their heads, peering into their minds.  
"… You're implying that the enemy received intel from the inside?" Fugaku said. Minato simply briefly left his eyes swept across the room. Previously, he could not have accessed the building, since it was for "special eyes", but his status as a rising star in the village and rumors of him accessing the highest office in the village granted him a few liberties. When Hiruzen asked him to visit it, he figured it was to get to know the place he would eventually have to "rule" over. 

And he was a bit unsettled by what he saw. The hunters were enemies who had attacked innocents and committed harm on Rin, and he wasn't about to forgive them for that, but he'd be lying to himself if he admitted that he was fine with their current states. Being kept brain dead and stuck in a machine had to be unpleasant.

"Yes." Said Inoichi, leaning against the railway, folding his arms. "The hunters's minds are shielded with Genjutsu traps that are difficult to defeat on their own, even for the likes of us, but our recent memories indicate that they've met a disguised contact who gave them the code to pass through the barrier as well as two identities to borrow while navigating across the village, and, of course, the guard's pattern and the way towards the Nohara household. Most of these could only be provided by someone within the village."

"Are you sure that you haven't stumbled upon a trap?" Fugaku interrupted. "You're throwing out a rather grave accusation if you insinuate that a mole is amongst us. It could be a rogue shinobi."

"No. The codes are changed now and then or whenever a higher-graded Shinobi goes rogue, and only a few know about them, such as the Third Hokage –whom I suspect is fair to disqualify as a suspect-, members of the council and other high authorities. Luckily, this leaves us with a narrow list. Unluckily, this means that the mole is of high authority, or has access to important files. Either way, I doubt that only two of those have sneaked through."

Minato tensed up. "Kushina!" He thought, they came to get Rin, but what about his wife? Luckily, before Minato could leave in a hurry, Fugaku eyed him. "Worry not, several of my most trusted underlings are watching over her. As for the hunters, we've just changed the code for the barrier, and the Uchiha clan is currently ensuring that none of them are within the village. However, none of that will matter if we don't catch the mole."

"In a time of war, even when it is winding down, it could be costly to let paranoia reach us… Good work, the both of you." He said, figuring they could use the compliment. "Inoichi, I am going to ensure that you get help on piercing through those Genjutsu traps. The key to our problems may lie inside of their heads. Fugaku… Continue searching through the village, and I will have the ANBUs back you up to search for the mole. Please, keep it a secret though. In those trying times, the village needs to remain united. Minato…" Hiruzen stopped himself mid-speech, noticing that Minato seemed contemplative.

"Lord Third, if I may, could there be a… someone we could talk to?" Minato tried to look as calm as he always was in the face of danger, and to the untrained eye he did, but all three men knew better than this, and quickly identified the anger boiling beneath the surface. Whoever Minato wanted to see was in trouble, and Hiruzen knew exactly who it was. "Yes. Fugaku, Inoichi, I will be assigning you to help after this. I count on you to use every drop of your considerable talent to help us figure out the truth."

"Right. I will lead the squads to ensure that the village is safe." Fugaku folded his arms. Should the Yamanaka fail to pierce through the mental defenses in time though, I will be glad to assist." He decided to activate his infamous pupils, choosing to quietly show off. 

"Oh, I would not dare to waste the time of the great Uchihas. I do believe that our task will be done before yours is complete." Hiruzen didn't quite react to the little back and forth, but he coughed briefly and allowed Minato to softly tap his shoulder, warping both men well away from the Graveyard and into…

…

… The Hokage's tower, appearing in front of the same pair of guards. Seeing their confused reaction, Hiruzen tipped his hat again. "Please, do not mind us. We're passing through." They stepped off the small seal on the ground, and progressed upwards. In a time of great surprise such as this, the tower could be a chaotic battleground where various secretaries or ninjas battled for dominance in rooms that sprawled with discarded pieces of papers or reports, but the tower was fairly quiet tonight. 

The work of ninja requires being calm, it requires seeing things that will haunt one's soul to the grave just as much as it asks one to perform these very things to guarantee success. Panic is not productive. Panic involves setting things on fire, yelling, shredding important papers, or doing costly decisions. Ninjas are not allowed to panic unless situations of outright cartoonish direness happens by surprise, because keeping a cool head is how one get themselves out of danger.

So when special forces from a country an ocean away sneak into the heart of the Leaf to kidnap a person under protection and very nearly manage to do just that, everyone is told to stay calm and act as if nothing happened. Everyone in the tower has a line all learned and ready to go if questions arise around the Nohara events: A group of thugs attempted to infiltrate the household to steal their hard-earned riches, and didn't expect to find themselves faced by two ninjas. The police forces are on the look-out to ensure that there will be no more of those robberies since not all families have their ninjas.

Still, Minato and Hiruzen both know exactly who they'll find at the office up ahead, so both quickly ascend the stairs. Hiruzen speaks up once both men were on the upper floors, where civilians were forbidden this late. "Minato." Said the Third. "Don't be too hasty. What makes you think that Danzo is behind this?" A blank stare would've been enough of an answer, but the blond bothered with a more precise one.

"Danzo was upset about Rin potentially leaking some secrets, is in a position where he knows the patterns of the guards, the codes for the barrier and identities to take and would be heartless enough to!" Minato stopped himself. Breath. He didn't lose his cool when he was tussling against the fastest man in the world and a Jinchuuriki with unusual control over his beast, nor when he was slaying armies quite literally on his own. He would not let the cowardly schemes of Danzo affect him. 

"Danzo is… a complicated man, and is rather hard to talk to. He has seen many horrors, so do not think that you'll be able to intimidate him, even righteous in your anger as you are." Hiruzen put his hands behind his back. "I will talk to Danzo, follow my lead." He assured. "You will have the time to talk, but he will dismiss you unless I give him a reason to listen. Trust me, my friend." The third put his hand on Minato's shoulder, and squeezed ever so slightly. "You may consider this an order."

"Understood, milord," Minato said. "Apologies for my… lashing out."

"It's an understandable reaction. Now come." Hiruzen led his pupil's student to his own office. 

Unsurprisingly, opening the door revealed that Danzo was present, sitting next to the office and closing his remaining eye in greetings. Homura and Koharu sat at the corner of the room, and both gestured for Hiruzen to enter. The Third didn't look too surprised by their presence, but he stared at his old rival as he made his way towards his chair. "Swift as ever, Danzo."

"I had assumed that you'd be looking for me." He said. "Let's not waste any time, shall we? I know what brings you here. And I didn't need to hear it out of Minato." Danzo raised a finger. "You should make your walls soundproof, Hiruzen, as I've warned you time and time again."

"I do enjoy hearing our ninjas trudge up the stairs for a mission." Answered the Hokage. He sat down and leaned. "Minato will now talk to you, Danzo. I request that you listen to him well. Koharu, Homura." He glanced in their direction, and his gaze briefly turned into a glare that would melt a mountain. "I require that none of you interrupt the discussion for the time being. See this as an order from your superior." The two older ninjas almost spoke up, but Hiruzen's glare was intense enough to get them to back off before they could attempt something. The Sarutobi clan member slightly whispered afterward, obviously not content with throwing his weight around. 

"Then I'll make this short for our two friends. There are more important matters, after all." Danzo looked at Minato, who almost glowered at him. "Why would I do all of this, my fellow ninjas of the Leaf? You both know that I strive to make the village greater. What kind of benefice would be found in killing off two civilians, especially when they are related to a Jinchuuriki? Nonsense. I have not provided the invaders with anything at all. And ROOT is currently working on revealing that mole. No need to inform me of that, Hiruzen."

"Lord Shimura, you strive to make the village better by sacrificing others to do it." Retorted Minato. "If I were to think like you, Rin will want to train harder if she's shown that people will attack her family to get to her. Regardless of whatever happens to them. And you know that the seal would hold out long enough for her to be neutralized." 

"Neutralized how?" Danzo cocked his head to the side. "You seem to have me pegged as some sort of diabolical mastermind with resources in my possession. Tell me, what do I possess that would allow me to subdue a rampaging Jinchuuriki?"   
"Kinoe." Hiruzen interrupted the conversation just this one time, but the balance in power shifted considerably. Danzo lost his attention on Minato and glared straight ahead at his old rival, nearly getting up from his seat in fury before he realized that he would compromise himself. "Kinoe would've subdued Rin, right? I know what you're doing while I'm supposedly not looking, Danzo."

"Hmph! Fine. Blame me for whatever happens to the village. I am not responsible for the hunters getting in, and I will prove that to you by getting rid of that mole." Danzo then pointed at the two men. "But know that you are only playing their game by accusing me. Kiri still hasn't recovered fully from the civil war, so they are trying to weaken us from the inside." He got up, but in a controlled manner. "I am the one who protects the pillars upon which this village stands, Hiruzen. If you come at me with these blind accusations and prevent me from doing what must be done…"

"There won't be repercussions towards you," Minato spoke, not wishing to have the Third fight his battle, out of respect for him and perhaps because of a little sense of pride. "You're right that we need to be united, and it may be a spy within us. You will be left off the hook for now." Minato frowned. "But if it is revealed that you indeed have to do with the infiltration or if you attempt, in any way, to negatively tamper with Rin's training, then there will be consequences once everything is said and done with this war."

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Homura interjected, tired of what he saw as aggressive behavior. "Danzo was serving the Leaf when you were still in the cradle, boy."

"That is true. You've all fought well for the Leaf, and I thank you for the sacrifices that you've made to bring us this far… But that doesn't mean that you're free to commit wrong in the present either! Doing good deeds in the past does not allow you to commit crimes right here and now. I can only hope that Lord Shimura will prove us all wrong and unearth the actual traitor." Minato folded his arms, making clear that the conversation was at an end.

"You've molded yourself a good heir to follow your ideals, Hiruzen." He grumbled. "A reunion is needed, yet again. The representatives for the clans will gather soon. Now that you've said what you had to say, Namikaze, perhaps you should assist it since you seem so eager to take up charge as the Hokage." Danzo slowly sat down again and recovered his cool. Still, their words had gotten to him. "But even then, since the girl is concerned, perhaps you should assist."

"I will." Minato acted as if the previous confrontation hadn't happened, effortlessly switching back to his cooler temper. "Though since it isn't happening now, I request to take the time to briefly attend to a personal matter. I will be back soon." After all, as long as Hiruzen carried his tagged Kunai, he could easily reach the Hokage's current location.

"Of course, go ahead, Minato." The blond thanked Hiruzen with a nod and departed. There was truth to his word, in that he was going to check on Kushina, but he was disturbed about the mole. Could he train Rin and take her aside, out of the village, when someone could leak the training ground's locations? He'll need to take up more protective measures, put more clones, and, most of all, remain ever vigilant for his two pupils.

But how could he do it when an enemy stood in his back? That was something that he'd need to figure out on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey-oh! The fifth chapter is out! I do hope you'll enjoy it!
> 
> I'll say we're halfway through the "first" phase, or a bit past it. There will be more action coming up soon! I do hope you're enjoying the story so far though! As a warning, the next chapter may contain a bit of gore at a certain moment, so take that as a fair warning in advance!
> 
> Otherwise, I hope you've enjoyed the chapter! Don't forget to review if you can, I love getting them! 
> 
> See ya later!


	6. The glaring eye.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things begins to look up for Rin! But yet, she makes an important encounter...

A/N: If you're a little squeamish or maybe unsettled by gore, there's a passage halfway through that might be a bit much. I didn't try to make it too explicit but I thought it'd be good to warn you! See you later down the chapter.

…

Rin knew that she'd eventually need to separate herself from her family to train. She just never thought that she would have to do it while they were in a hospital room right after an attack as sudden as it was vicious. 

"I can stay if you want." She offered, as her mother leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead. Her father, to her surprise, did the same, though he aimed for her cheek instead. Both shook their heads.

"Let your old father recover." Advised Reo. "We've had a discussion yesterday about it, didn't we? Fly free, Rin." He said. Yui seemed to be of the same argument, cradling Ena in her arms while watching Rin. 

"We'll be fine, dear. Our priority will be to give you a nice home to return to once this madness is over." She said. "And maybe teach Ena to spell out your name by the time you return! He is a clever boy after all, isn't he?" She briefly shook the baby, causing him to giggle in amusement. Rin laughed but wondered if, indeed, Ena wouldn't already be walking or talking by the time she'd get home. She had heard rumors of the war dying down for now but… bah, what happened to her optimism? She'd be back in time to hear him say his first word. And, speaking of Ena, Rin leaned in close and kissed him on the tip of his nose.

"Don't give mom and dad too much of a hard time, okay?" She waged her finger at her little brother, and he stared at her in incomprehension before smiling, accompanying this by waving his arms at the air to try to grab her finger. Rin allowed him to do so but eventually pulled away. It had to be done quickly, since she already felt the tears boiling up. "Well… I'll send you all pictures! And I'll stay out of trouble too! But don't worry, people are gonna make sure that I'm protected and so are you!"

"Oh, I know but… Don't be shy, alright? Make some friends, enjoy the view and, erm, always think about your family, right? If you ever feel a little bit down, know that we're here and we'll be waiting for you." Yui bit her lips. "I'm not good at these speeches, huh?"

"No, you're good with them mom!" Rin smiled sweetly. "See you later! I love you all!" She walked backward while waving at her family and left their hospital room, taking the time to blow a kiss their way three times and waving one last time before Kakashi and her both began to head down the stairs. The young brunette sighed heavily once she was out of sight, though Kakashi noticed her distress rather quickly.

"Are you alright?" He asked, not knowing how to appropriately tackle the subject. Kakashi was very much a prodigy when it came to handling nearly anything, but family matters were somewhat beyond his field of expertise, for obvious reasons. "If you need anything, I'll be here."

Rin blinked before looking up at him. "Thanks but… I'll manage. I'm somewhat used to having to leave them for a while after all." She scratched her cheek. "I just hope they'll do alright. Can you promise me that people will keep protecting them?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. They'll be paid, too. Your family will be fine."

As they left the hospital, Rin waited before leaving, since a lot of people were currently at the entrance and her backpack made it rather bothersome to move around. Kakashi occasionally silently moved his hand in silence, as if saying that he could take all the weight, but she simply shook her head with a grateful smile. She didn't want for him to have to carry her burden for once, and Minato had made it clear by now that the training would be intense. What kind of trainee would she be if she couldn't handle a heavy backpack?

"… Oh, wait, I'll need to send them pictures no?"

"Yeah, you will." Kakashi waited until they were both out of the hospital to answer, and pointed upwards. Understanding that her teammate likely intended for the conversation to be done away from civilian ears (or less informed ears, simply enough), Rin leaped to the roof of a nearby building along with him, at which point he decided to continue the conversation, though they both used their ninja agility to parkour across the roofs. However, the youth with the red-eye stood ever so slightly behind Rin, just in case she fell. Determined to silently prove him wrong, Rin did her best to act as if the heavyweight on her back was not an obstacle. In fairness to her, it did not prevent her from engaging in acrobatics.

"We'll use a transformation Jutsu and send pictures of "you" in Tanzaku. I understand that it's quite manipulative." He eyed for her reaction, but Rin simply mouthed "weird" in silence, though she knew that it was for her best. Lying to her parents was one thing but she wondered if she'd need to learn a series of things that "did" at Tanzaku so that she could talk about it herself to her parents later. "… But our hand has been sort of forced."

"So where are we heading then? And huh, is it safe? Oh, isn't it where Master Minato and Jiraya trained?"

"We're heading towards the training cave, yes. And Master Minato has been ensuring that it's safe. There's a barrier around it to prevent intrusions, and some ANBUs have been deployed to walk around the perimeter in case. Only the Third Hokage is privy to it too." Kakashi dropped his voice to a whisper, but made himself clear enough for Rin to understand. The young girl's eyes widened a little at the realization that she was smack dab in the midst of all of this.

Well, she had realized this several times over, but she'd be lying if she said that she didn't feel like her stomach dropped with each realization. That was her life now, forever and ever. Rin dwelled on it for a little more before she remembered another dramatic fact: She was in mid-air, and even for a ninja it wasn't exactly somewhere you could daydream in. The young girl focused and bounced on a nearby wall, taking some altitude again and refocusing on what was in front of her. Both figuratively, with the training that was coming up, and literally, with the tower that she would've likely smacked into had she not focused on her duties.

Climbing up to said tower revealed that Minato stood above it, which made sense from Rin's point of view when one was as requested as he was. The blond man looked ever so slightly more tired than before, but not to a point where this worried his students. "Rin, Kakashi! Good timing you two!" He said, dropping from the very top of the tower to get to the lower part of the roof. "Are you doing alright?" 

"I'm fine, master Minato." Kakashi bowed slightly but kept a level tone. "I'm just glad to be trained by you yet again."

"Well…" Rin looked the way of the graveyard, looked down at her feet, and shook her head. She'd visit him later, after earning the strength that she needed now. "I'm fine. And I'm more ready than ever for the training!"

"Alright!" Minato pumped his fist so slightly to encourage her. "Well, I do have some things to say to you, but it'd be best if we move things along. Let's go." He moved to put his hands on their respective shoulder and…

…

… Both ninjas were instantly teleported to a red bridge near a cliffside, smack dab in the middle of a green forest. A bit caught off guard by the teleportation, Rin took the time to rub her eyes before looking up at the location.

The bridge they were on led to a platform with a small red building on it. At that point, two bridges could be taken: One led to the right, back to the forest, and apparently to a path that would allow one to take the stairs leading up to much bigger edifice built directly into the side of the cliff. To the left, one could travel over the lake again to land at a platform with some massive stairs on it. Walking up those stairs would lead to several structures also built unto the wall, nearly all being reachable by stairs (either built or carved directly into the stone). At the very top of the cliffs, some more buildings had been built, overlooking the lake.

The place looked very much like those older towns in the Land of Fire, who used to thrive in an era even older than that of the First Hokage's. While rather atypical in how it had been constructed, it did look beautiful enough to earn a solemn "whoah" out of Rin, who dropped her arms to her sides while observing it all. Even Kakashi, while he didn't make it anywhere near as clear, left out a very small whistle, though unlike Rin his attention quickly refocused on Minato. The elite ninja seemed amused by his students' reactions.

"I acted the same way, heh, it's an impressive structure isn't it?"

"Yeah for sure! It's so impressive!" Rin smiled eagerly, briefly casting aside her doubts, and set her backpack down before jumping to the top of the building on the lake, to better observe it all. Minato chuckled and followed her. "Oh, did Master Jiraya find it?"

"Yeap." Minato nodded. "He discovered it while looking for a place to train. It used to be a military outpost in an older era apparently, so he used it to train. When I became his student, he took me here to train as well, it's where…" The blond's eyes darted around the place before he jumped forward several times over, prompting both students to follow him. When they finally joined him, they could see that he was standing near the main stairs, looking up at some faded markings on the wall. "Yep, still there." He said. Rin and Kakashi instantly recognized the marking and the former clapped her hands. "Whoah! It's where you trained to master your Flying Thunder God technique?"

"Indeed!" Minato held his thumb up. "The place was ideal for it thanks to its size. I, huh, did mess up a lot while learning it." He pointed to the lake and scratched the back of his head, with an awkward chuckle. "I also learned to swim well there. And I also learned the Shadow Clone Technique."

"Ah." Kakashi finally decided to intervene. "To enhanced your chances at learning the Thunder God technique, right?"

"… Yeah." Minato tilted his head and put his hands on his hips. "Well actually the place had fallen into disrepair and Jiraya said that I'd need to clean it up before we could get any training. I was already trained in it but that's where I mastered it." He spoke. "I clean it up now and then though, since I knew that either of you would probably need it at some point. And we will live there for a while too."

Rin nodded to that but then realized something. "Oh, will Miss Kushina live there too?"

"She's been a bit busy on missions." There was truth to Minato's words, though she did take a break a few days ago, and had expressed a desire to see Rin. Unfortunately, it had been denied, out of fear that putting two Jinchuurikis in the same room could lead to their respective beasts conspiring together. She had rather colorfully expressed her opinion on the situation at that point, and Hiruzen had described that the heads of clans were terrified enough of her possible wrath to finally allow her to see Rin. "But yes, she'll probably come here. When Kushina wants something, then she gets it after all."

"I hope we'll see her!" Rin eventually tried to compose herself to put up a stoic front. "Alright so, master, what will be taught to me?"

"Well, Taijutsu first and foremost, then you'll be taught some elemental Jutsus. Of course, if you have any preference…"

"Taijutsu should be good." It had always been something of a weak point to her after all. "I'd like to learn Jutsus too! But most of all…"

"I've got its scroll, and Tsunade's blessing on it. I couldn't get her to train you but she's busy making counter-poison for our compatriots who fought the Sand." He said. "Our goal will be to ensure that you've got the basics down on Taijutsu at least, and some useful Jutsus. Then, we may start to try to work on the Three-Tails and its power. Kushina could help with that, and Kakashi and I will help with the rest."

"It will be difficult but not sadistic either." Followed up Kakashi. "We'll train you but we won't force you to do so even when you are exhausted. The body needs to be healthy to properly strengthen, overworking oneself won't lead to good results." 

"Alright." Rin pumped her two fists, already feeling determined. "Then let's go!!!" Then, right as she said this, she stopped and blinked. "But first, erm, let me get my bag."

…

"Wind Style: Vacuum Blast Barrage!" Rin unleashed what should've been a fearsome attack made out of razor-sharp wind blades, but the projectiles, while large at the beginning, eventually faded into nothing before they could reach the wooden dolls, though they swayed ever so slightly.

"Try again."

…

Rin and Kakashi battled on the bridge near the lake, the former sending out a quick series of punches and kicks to try to overwhelm the latter. Every attack was read in advance by his magical eye though, and whatever he didn't casually block, he dodged with about as much ease.

When Rin came at him with a kick, Kakashi decided to switch things up and caught her leg. His opponent blinked in surprise because Kakashi yanked her off the ground and out of the bridge, sending her straight into the water. Since the bridge wasn't that high, the youth trusted that his friend would be able to endure the fall. And indeed she did, emerging out of the water and spiting some of the liquid. 

"Try again." He said, leaning over from the bridge. Rin blew him as raspberry.

…

"AAYYYYAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Rin bellowed a war cry (that sounded somewhat less impressive than she thinks it would be) and punched the wooden mannequin straight in the face, sending it flying a good distance away into Minato, who merely leaned out of the way to dodge it. Rin put her hands up, in surprise. "Sorry!"

"Haha, don't worry, I've dodged faster. How about you go for another punch?"

Rin nodded with a smile and moved towards her next target, gathering the chakra in her fist. To her displeasure, the process took a bit too long. About three seconds or so. It was fast, but she needed it to take less time, she needed that strength to be available to her in scenarios where she'd be lucky to have three seconds worth of time.

…

"Fire Style: Great Fireball!" Kakashi, after landing on the surface of the lake, composed his hand seals and spat out a great fireball at Rin, potent enough to illuminate their surroundings greatly even in the dark of the night.

"Water Style: Tearing Water Palm!" Rin answered in kind, quickly bringing her hands forth after waving her hand seals. A great amount of water produced forth out of it, overwhelming the fireball and hitting Kakashi. "Apparently", though, because the vapor produced by the elemental encounter prevented one from seeing the other. Rin, however, knew to quickly disperse it and quickly composed a new series of seals. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" A powerful stream of wind flew forth out of her mouth, aimed at the vapor itself. Faced with the fury of a hurricane, the vapor cloud was blown away and Kakashi himself appeared stunned in place, raising his two hands in an attempt at blocking out the sheer wind.

"Got you!" Rin gathered more chakra at her feet and leaped across the air, swinging a few times while preparing a kick. She did not gather chakra on her legs though, fearful that the blow would do more harm than necessary. "Leaf Whirlwind!" She cried, apparently battering away at her friends with a powerful spinning kick attack! Taken by surprise by her bold approach and speed, the masked youth's defense was broken when the first kick impacted his arms, throwing them high up and leaving his torso vulnerable for the second kick, sending him flying across the water itself!

Rin landed on the lake and took a pose, holding her fist out. "Hehe, not bad, isn't it?" She teased at Kakashi. He didn't see fit to answer, though that was probably because his inert body puffed into white smoke. Realizing that she had been tricked, the medic put her guard up again and prepared herself for an assault, readying herself to punch at the sky or her surroundings at any moment. The threat, however, came from below, as proven when two hands shot out of the water and, before she could even so much as yelp, grasped her ankles to pull her down into it. The medic eventually freed herself and swam up, catching a glimpse of Kakashi before breaching the surface.

"Urgh…" Rin used chakra to get up on the lake, and Kakashi soon emerged as well. She didn't point it out, but his wet hair made it look like an albino hedgehog was resting atop his head. "Oh, so it was a clone, huh? When did… oh." The young girl sighed and slapped herself on the forehead, though her teammate shook his head.

"You did well at reacting to my attacks though, and you quickly blew away the vapor to prevent any trickery. And your taijutsu was well done, I probably wouldn't have reacted any better than my clone." He pointed at his Sharingan. "I wouldn't have been able to pull the clone off if I didn't do it while the Fireball was still in the air."

"Huh, you switched… Whoah, amazing! You're so fast!" Rin blinked and folded her arms, then pouted. "Aw, I'm never going to catch up if you're that amazing!" 

Kakashi smiled behind the mask. "Heh, I'm training on my own too. I can't have you surpass me too quickly." Rin smiled proudly and take a stance, but he held his hand out. "Wait a second now. We ought to rest at this point. The sun was still up when we started, remember? We should take a break."

"Huh, you're right." Rin held up a finger. "It's best not to overwork ourselves, right?" Kakashi nodded. "See I do try to remember what you've taught me!"

"You're smart, I wouldn't have expected anything less. Come now." Kakashi looked up. "Master Minato's waiting at the summit, and please don't make it into an r-"

"Last to make it to the top get less food!" 

…

"Huh, can we retract on the less food clause?" Rin asked, landing next to Kakashi in front of the entrance of the main building. "It was said a bit out of the blue and, well, for all we know I could mean one percent less food or something, heh…" She scratched her cheek a little and giggled, attempting to hide how awkward she felt. Kakashi, for his part, didn't seem to feel too triumphant.

"Sure we can." He walked inside, and Rin whispered a "Yes!" of triumph before entering as well. 

The main building had been refurbished the most, and served as a "headquarter". It was where Minato (or a clone) overlooked the training facility, and it was where they reunited each night. For the sake of safety, they slept in different rooms within the same building, to allow help to come in quicker should danger arises. However, Minato had erected a barrier around the area, and some Genjutsu experts in the village had helped him make the barrier opaque, concealing its inhabitants from the outside world. ANBUs patrolled outside, to make sure that no one would get in. Because of Minato's recent wariness, he had picked them themselves, and they all had his utter confidence.

Rin sometimes saw them wandering around just to check-in, and while she didn't mind them, it was still a bit creepy to have those masked folks just… peer down at her from above. Nothing that disrupted the training though, and she imagined that it was for her safety. Even then… Her recent experiences had left her uncomfortable with people with big masks like these. It almost made them look inhuman, like she could take off the mask and avoid would stare back.

The two students sat down in front of their meals, and Rin looked down at it, her eyes quickly shining in wonder as she realized what she was dealing with. "So cool! Ichiraku ramens!"

"I figured you could afford some. You're both training hard, right?" He glanced at the two soaking wets youth. "You're doing pretty well, so here's your reward. Unfortunately, by tomorrow, we might go back to rations!" He scratched the back of his head as he said so, but Rin didn't mind too much, grabbing her chopsticks instead and eating up. When Kakashi put his hands together, she briefly looked at him and quickly copied his gesture, realizing what he was going to do. 

"Thank you for the meal, teacher."

"T-thanks for the meal, teacher!" Minato laughed at their synchronized attitude, and they all began to ate, even if Minato was, ironically, slower about it. 

"I'm glad to see you're doing well, Rin. Those are incredibly tough circumstances after all." Minato stopped to talk, but briefly thought about his words before speaking up. "But you're learning well, and you seem to be as energetic as ever! Moreso than before in fact!"

"Thanks, Sensei!" Rin winked, and was glad Kakashi proceeded to speak up. Rude as it was, Rin didn't like to talk while eating. The youth liked to let her flow of thoughts trails off while doing so, and it allowed her to synergize what happened today and what she was going to be doing after eating. When she was talking though, it was a bit harder for her to do so, and her replies tended to be a bit curter. 

She was breaking free of that habit, ever so slowly, but still…

"Rin is doing pretty well, she's at least able to keep up." He said. "She'll be at a completely different level by the time we get back home."

Minato nodded wisely. "It's good that you take the time to train together. You both know each other so it's easy for you to know what the other's limits are and so forth."

Despite her dislike for talking, Rin saw a subject worth delving into, and intervened. "Well, I haven't been able to beat Kakashi so far." 

Minato chuckled. "With all due respect, Rin, training doesn't involve defeating the opponent." He leaned forward, and Rin saw that he was done with his bowl, perhaps because he wanted to get to the talk with his students faster. Their schedule was that they would eat, and the converse about the events of the day and preparing tomorrow's sessions. This allowed Minato to keep in touch with what his students were doing on their own since he was content to let them train together or on their own at times, and he could better help them that way.

"Yes, to be blunt, Rin, I doubt that you'll be able to beat me that easily." Kakashi looked at her with his "good" eye. The other, he kept it hidden beneath some hair. She hadn't told it yet, but she found it adorable, though she wondered if he kept it closed or if he kept it open and it was just obstructed. It was very likely the former, but the image of the mighty Sharingan being blocked off by some hair came off as funny to her.

Well, she always has had a strange sense of humor, or so her mother said.

"… You understand?"

"Oh!" Rin tried to make it look like she hadn't spaced out for a moment, luckily, she identified Kakashi's point just fine. "Y-yes, of course. The matter isn't to win, it's to be able to put up a better fight outright. The longer I last, the better I'm getting, and not just in raw power, but also in tactics." There was silence, and Rin quickly glanced at the two of them. "I…"

"Heh, impressive how much you've heard considering you spaced out a little there." Minato smiled cheekily, and Rin blushed in embarrassment, looking down and gripping her legs while mumbling about the Sharingan. "It's fair though. It indicates that you've listened well. Just don't do it too often, other people could see it as a bit rude." Minato became a bit more serious. "Though I understand, there's a lot of new things to think about now."

"Yeah…" Rin folded her arms. 

"Don't worry, I won't yell at you for being distracted." Kakashi, who found himself satisfied with his meal, pushed his bowl towards the brunette, widening his one eye in surprise (and maybe a little bit of fright) when the Kunoichi swiftly grabbed the bowl to bring it closer to her. "All that matter is that you're doing well. And we'll work on making sure you continue down that path, alright?"

"Yes. Speaking of this, tomorrow…"

…

"Mizore awakened her Sharingan today," Obito spoke of this as if the urgency of it was on a national scale. He even acted like he was currently speaking to a room full of various politicians and experts, leaning forward and putting his elbows on the wooden table before joining his hands together to support his head. "Man, it sure was annoying to have to hear her boast about it all day, and then there was the ceremony too." Obito slouched back into the couch where he sat. "And you know, they had to insist on the ceremony for it."

"Oh, that ceremony for awakening the Sharingan, right?" Rin sat at a chair close to the couch, listening on slowly. "I didn't know they had whole ceremonies for it.

"It's just, you know, to stroke their ego, and motivate the others into awakening their Sharingan's, like me." Obito grimaced. "It was just such a bore."

"Well, you didn't need to get there, right?" Rin leaned to the side, curious. "You always seem to dislike Uchiha ceremonies after all."

"Heh, I guess you're right, but I feel like being here alone is enough to piss off some of the older members." Obito got a sudden idea and put one hand on his chest before raising the other at the sky, taking an appropriately dramatic voice. "Ah, lo and behold, here is the brat who cast shame upon our name! He wi-hey, that rhymed." Obito interrupted himself at that point, and Rin laughed a little.

"Great impression!" She complimented. "Though it's kind of sad that they treat you like this, I mean…"

"Heh, I'd rather be acknowledged than ignored. The older folks would sure love for me to vanish." He acknowledged. Rin nodded, but winced a little at his admission, finding it rather uncomfortable. Obito himself was flippant, but his voice briefly wavered near the end, and he took a brief pause. "But they'll be forced to acknowledge me for real when I become Hokage."

"Heh, sure!" She said. "Though… hm, maybe we should be training if we want you to do that." Rin rubbed her chin and glanced at her house's window. Why was everything so foggy out there? She didn't remember Konoha having that bad of a time. It was quite the thick fog too, she couldn't even see the street or people outside. At least the house was well lit… but where were her parents? 

Ah, that's right, they were going to a convention. Heh, had they been present Rin probably wouldn't have invited Obito to hang out at home. Her father had been suspicious of him ever since Rin mentioned meeting a "nice boy" back when she was five years old. He was an Uchiha after all, and the Noharas had a rather nasty history with them. Had he been there, she was sure that Reo would've been in the same room or, if Yui had intervened, would be watching them from a corner, making sure that part of his head would always remain insight so that Obito would know that he would be exposed to a hell unseen by human eyes if he tried anything with his daughter.

But then again, Obito was just a friend. It was a shame that her father couldn't understand this after years of it.

"… Training?" Obito asked. "Heh, maybe you're right." He said. "I bet that this jerk is out there training all by himself while we're talking." The Uchiha became grumpy again, and folded his arms, leaning in the couch and looking away, casting a glance at a picture of the Noharas. "It's like he wants to keep the gap between us… But, ya know, I'm working hard to fill it," Obito said. "And when I get my Sharingan… woovee!" Rin struggled not to laugh at the sound produced by her teammate. "I'm going to blow right past him!"

"Hm… You're right that Kakashi is probably training." Rin pondered a little bit more and glanced at the ceiling. She heard… footsteps? How? They were too light for Obito to hear. The young girl prepared to move to investigate, but failed to get up from her seat. At first confused, she put all her might (small as it was) in trying to get up, but yet failed yet again. It wasn't that her body refused to move, but it was like it couldn't, as if gravity alone had decided to bind her to it. She had to warn Obito of it!

"He's always a bit lonely. I never get to hang out with him like I do with you." What? No! She had to tell him about what was going on, about…

"Huh-huh?" Obito looked both surprised, a bit hurt and yet glad, pulling off each emotion separately and concluding it with a sigh of relief. "Well, I bet it's because he thinks that we're not worth hanging around with, ya know? Prodigy this, prodigy that." He threw his arms up in the air. "I'll tell ya, he's more pompous than he's skilled. That's why I'd like to see his face if… when I become Hokage. Huh, think I could see it with the mask on? Maybe I could tell him to take it off?"

"Obito, there's something wrong here! Heh, for all you two know, I could become the Hokage." Rin's body moved on its own this time, folding its arms and leaning back unto the chair, bearing a cocky grin. "I'm training in secret to surpass you both, and at a point in the war, when you'll both be in trouble… Bam!" Rin smacked the air with a mighty chop. "Rin Nohara enters the scene and defeat the dastardly Rock ninja who got the better out of the team. And then Minato will say "Whoah Rin, I couldn't have done this as fast as you just did, please teach me! And I'll agree."

Obito seemed to find what she was saying very amusing, laughing out loud at the end. She didn't know if he just found her to be ridiculous or if he took joy in imagining Kakashi being bailed out. "You know, I do think you'd be a great Hokage. You're so nice after all!" He said. 

"What's happening?! Well, I wasn't so nice before." Rin desperately wanted to scream to Obito, or anyone else really, to help her, but she could only witness as her body and mind acted on their own. "Hehe, remember the troublemaker Rin?" The light in the room dimmed ever so slightly, and Rin started to slowly panic. Again, her body refused to budge as she told it to. And god knows how much she tried to make that happen. The youth desperately attempted to lift anything, even so much as a finger, without being able to do so at all. 

She was stuck in her body, and it felt wrong. It felt wrong to see it casually move about, and it felt wrong to just talk as if she was following a script. The footsteps were getting louder, the mist outside grew thicker and Obito… Obito didn't care, slumping in his chair as if he was too tired to move. "Yeah." He said, with a surprisingly dismissing tone. "But, heh, to be honest, I think you or Kakashi or even Minato will get it before me." Once more, he turned to stare at the wall.

"… Huh?" Rin, after putting forth her lengthy answer, lost focus on Obito to look down at her body instead. To her surprise (and joy), her body was answering her a little. A little, since she wasn't sitting upright and practically shaking Obito to get him to investigate what was going on, but at the very least she could move her arms and torso, also her legs (a little), and talk herself. "… Obito, what do you mean? H-hey, we'll see about that later, could you help me? It's like I can't mo-" 

All of a sudden, Rin felt a cold sensation on her arms, and they slammed back down on the seat, along with her legs and back, forcing her to sit straight. It wasn't like before, where at least she could move, no, it… Rin glanced down and screamed in terror at what she was. 

Coral was jutting out of her skin, attaching itself to the seat's fabric to keep her still. It wasn't painful for some reason, but it still felt all kind of wrong, like it was an extension of her. Like she could feel the fabric itself for some reason. Like many fingers were sprouting out of her, and feeling everything within. The more she trashed, the more it hurt. A sharp, cutting pain to it, like severing something with a kunai.

"… They don't put corpses on the Hokage seat, Rin." Said Obito. He looked normal, but there was an obvious shift in everything with him. The light faded even more, and now she could only see his silhouette within it.

"What do you mean? I… Please, help me Obito! Call someone! I-I don't know what's going on and-!"

A sliver of light peeked through, and Obito raised a mangled arm. Rin had seen nasty injuries in her lifetime, but none of it compared to what she was seeing. It was a barely-recognized mess of flesh and bones, filled with chunks of rocks that had been stabbed into the limb all over, with a particularly large one piercing through it entirely at the elbow. "Those suckers had to take my dominant arm. How am I going to write with the other one?"

Silence, and then the apparition, with far too much ease, simply retracted the arm. Broken bones, ruined muscles, and severed tendons worked in tandem to ensure he would do it with far too much ease, and then Obito himself prepared to step into the light.

What he looked like, Rin opted not to see it, closing her eyes entirely and turning her head away. Luckily, the nightmare deigned to give her at least that much control. But perhaps that was because she knew what he looked like? Because she somehow had it burned in her mind, lodged with her much happier memories?

"You left me to die." There was a seething venom in the voice, but it remained extremely calm despite it. Rin built up the gumption to glance with one eye, and by now the whole room was plunged in darkness, apart from the dining room of her house, still brightly lit. "If you had just been a little more vigilant…"

"No no no! I… I'm making sure it won't happen again!" Rin glanced everywhere around the room in terror, almost hyperventilating in fright. "Please, don't…"

"Oh, you're training? Good for you…" The voice regained a venomous edge, and a cold hand slowly turned Rin's head towards the kitchen, where a Kiri hunter emerged. 

The masked figure stood eerily still, his hands covered in blood, and slowly made his way towards Rin, as if he was savoring the moment. He looked like the larger one from the nights before, but his skin was a bit grayer, and the skin near the mask looked odd, like it had been grafted to it. It was like the mask was spreading too, since she could see white… things burrowing under the skin nearby, and visibly poking out from underneath. 

The mask itself constantly changed expressions as she blinked, only settling on a last look when the hunter made his way to Rin. It was like a red spiral, with a single yellow eye in the middle of it, like a glaring eye. A glaring eye that had a moving pupil, or at least, the painted eye looked down at her with a look of utter rage, like her mere existence offended it.

"They'll come and they'll kill you before you'll be ready for them, Rin. They'll rip him out of you and give it back to his true owner!" Obito's voice had changed significantly. She could still (to her regrets) hear him, but the echo belonged to someone else's voice, and she didn't recognize it.

Not that it mattered to her at the moment. Not as the hunter raised his hand and delivered the finishing blow with a swift chop.

…

Rin certainly didn't jump out of her bed while screaming, no, that wasn't exactly how she (or other people) tended to awaken after a nightmare. Instead, she opened her eyes, glanced at her room, and immediately pulled the cover over her. Then, once safe, she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them, closing her eyes so as not to see anything.

She knew it was a stupid nightmare but she was scared that she'd see that damned hunter standing in her room in silence, or that Obito would be sitting in a corner, waiting. She could've called for Kakashi or even Minato, but she was too terrified to think straight by this point. What was this nightmare? She already dreamed a little about such scenarios but this one had been particularly gruesome to her. Would she make another one as such if she were to sleep again? Was some Genjutsu user messing with her spirit for some reason?

Either way, Rin did not want to go back to sleep, and she had too much energy to waste. The young girl timidly removed the sheets, looked around (with one fist curled up, just in case), and prepared herself to train a little more.

…

Rin swung her fist in front of her, and the wind obeyed her. A strong gust of wind appeared around the limb, forming a small drill around it that was capable of piercing through defenses. The wind also provided some defenses, being able to deflect most attacks thanks to its sheer speed. A pretty useful Taijutsu move, all things considered.

There was something unusually relaxing to the sound of the wind, so Rin kept the pace of her attacks, slowly kicking or punching the air and letting the wind sail forth. It was oddly relaxing to her, though it didn't do much to clear her doubts. Would she get strong in time? Was the nightmare more than a byproduct of her imagination, but something more sinister, cooked up by a spy who somehow found his way in? Was the facility going to be raided, soon, by a team of hunters all but determined to kill everyone within it to get to Rin?

"Yah!" Rin kicked upwards, sending a potent gust of wind up to the sky, and did a spin to land on the water on her feet, sighing. She felt tired, alright, but would she be tired enough to fall into a dreamless slumber? The Nohara felt like she hadn't pushed herself enough, like she needed to do something to prove she was going the right way. So, inspiring herself on both reality and fiction, Rin imagined that while she had been busy, that hunter from her dream had been observing her, and sneakily approached while she was busy training, slowly escaping the vigilance of clones (though they seemed to be rare tonight) and preparing to kidnap her, just like they did back on the shores, or how that Rock Shinobi did it at the river.

So Rin raised her arms in front of herself, glanced behind her just a bit (illusions-breaking as it was, it allowed her not to accidentally blast Kakashi or her teacher right in the face if they stood behind her) and then screamed before thrusting her elbows backward, sending a strong gust of wind with each arm. The good news was that it was indeed a strong attack. Anyone caught by it would've been sent flying helplessly and would've smashed straight into the stairs, even if they had braced themselves beforehand, so it was a good thing that she checked.

On the other hand, the reverse also applied. Any Jutsu capable of causing that much displacement would cause the user to move with it. And in Rin's case, it means propelling her dozen and dozen of meters underwater all of a sudden, sending her screaming through the lake. Needless to say, she probably wouldn't be going to sleep for a while. This kind of thing would keep anyone awake for hours after the fact!

Once she was done propelling herself, the young girl eventually found the strength to move her arms and blasted in front of her with some wind yet again, stopping her movements. Of course, the whiplash soon made itself known, and Rin, before she could swim up, spent two seconds silently suffering. Her arms and spine hadn't snapped, thankfully, but they sure felt very fragile all of a sudden. Sore from her experience, Rin still began to swim up, leaving her arms hanging by her sides and using her legs instead. 

Of course, screaming underwater had caused her to unwittingly take up quite a lot of water, but somehow she didn't feel like she was drowning. This discovery caused her to quit swimming upwards, and Rin pondered on it. She kept her mouth closed, just to be sure, but at no point did her lungs feel like they were going to burst with water (even after she unwittingly drank a lot of it while being blasted under the lake). When she opened her eyes, at no point did the water feel irritating. Rin felt like she could spend days underwater without any problems.

This proved to be a useful sudden adaptation to her surroundings, because as much as she wished to swim upwards, the surface felt more and more distant. Rin tried to reach it, in curiosity, but no matter how much she swam, it was as distant as ever. And while she knew that she had propelled herself far, the lake wasn't that deep, and her technique couldn't have moved her by that much, or else she would've simply crashed into the ground below.

Speaking of ground… Rin looked below, and gasped in shock (somehow not getting a ton of water in the throat while doing so) at the discovery that the ground below was gone, instead replaced by a large metallic structure. Was it another dream? A Genjutsu of a sort? No, it was… It was hard to put, but it did feel familiar. Wishing to see if there was something else to jolt her memories, Rin began to swim down, getting closer and closer to the metal structure. 

Closer observation revealed that it was a metallic bar of a sort, like the ones reserved for prison, and that made Rin freeze: Were they keeping something in there? The answer soon became obvious to her, both by her conclusion and because the inhabitant decided to manifest himself to her.

There, in the darkness beyond the bar, laid a gigantic red eye, with a single glowing orb in the middle of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> …
> 
> A/N: Hello guys!
> 
> So I'd like to address some things I forgot to address! Yep, Yagura is the Mizukage here. There's a reason for his survival though, and why he gave Sanbi away. I thought I could make him into a rather scary antagonist for a vulnerability, or Achilles' heel of a sort! I do hope the readers will enjoy my take on the character, since he's coming up very soon in the flesh! I know it's a bit canon-breaking but the timeline is a bit wonky, isn't it?
> 
> Also, yes, this is more of a prologue! But don't worry, things will get going once everything is in place. I'm setting up some later protagonists (or antagonists) that you guys will be seeing in the later chapters, and I'm making sure that Rin is strong enough to use some Jutsus and all of that jazz. It's also useful to see her reaction to things. I'm glad you're enjoying it though!
> 
> We should be out of the prologue soon, I just need to have Rin meet three very special people (and she'll get to meet at least two at the same time), so don't worry!
> 
> I hope you guys liked what you read! Don't forget to leave reviews, I do enjoy them very much
> 
> See ya later!


	7. How to negotiate with giant monsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin finds an unlikely ally in her quest to introduce herself to the Three-Tails, and she will definitely need his assistance.

Rin had always heard of tales of gigantic monsters crawling in the depths of the ocean, lugging their massive bodies around and occasionally surfacing, with their backs might be confused for mighty islands or rock formations by sailors with no idea of what they were exactly dealing with. It had always been a minor phobia of her, in fact, but she reassured herself by saying that beasts of such size would not find the sustenance to thrive in such depths. And, even if they existed, then it was very unlikely that they'd cross paths.

But right now, she had one of those staring right at her, with an eye easily mistakable for a moon. A bright red moon, with a pupil in the middle. Were she not so terrified for her life, Rin would notice its resemblance with the mask in her nightmare, but one does not keep their cool when they find herself in her situation. Because, if the eye alone was that enormous, then… what about the beast that it belonged to? Shuddering, Rin looked up and gasped again.

The head, that was about the size of a hill was barely present within the murky waters. She could see a nose, another closed eye, and also several jagged spikes, each bigger than a building. It almost looked like tiny mountains were jutting out of the skin, though Rin soon tried to distract herself from that thought. The beast stared at her, blinked once, and then turned around, beginning to swim away into the depths.

Rin couldn't come up with a description of what she was seeing. She could identify a shape, that of a turtle, but its size was hard to comprehend for her. From her position, she couldn't even see the creature's entire body (to do that, she'd need to swim kilometers away at least). All she could guess was that it had a shell easily large enough to house an entire valley, even if the massive spikes on its back, each far larger than any of the structures she had seen on her life, would dissuade anyone from trying to live here.

As the beast turned around, she caught sight of its shrimp-like tails, each probably large enough to carve huge chunks of a large forest out.

It looked like a turtle, but Rin wouldn't be able to describe it. The size alone was nightmarish to her, along with the realization that despite it, the turtle had managed to swim away with great speed and concealed itself within the depths of its prison. Rin would swim closer, but there was absolutely no way she was going to do that. Instead, the Chûnin shook her head in terror and began to swim up, fearful that the creature was preparing to find a way to reach her, or come back with a deadly revenge. She was going to put in about as much distance as she could, and she'd do it now.

As she swam, Rin tried, in vain, to pinch herself awake, though it did nothing to pull her out of the underwater dimension. The earlier harmony that she was in just before had completely vanished, and the young girl was even using her arms to try to reach the surface faster, not minding their sudden recovery despite her earlier soreness.

She didn't even dare to look down, at any point as she progressed up into the water… Or did she progress at all? It didn't matter how much she used her arms: The surface never got any closer, no matter what. Finally, Rin prepared to use the wind Jutsu that had gotten her into this mess in the first place, as a desperate gambit, but a loud sound, like a roar, stopped her. 

Confused, the Kunoichi made the mistake of looking down, and realized that the bars were as close to her as ever, almost as if she had established no distance, or was somehow followed by them. She also realized that the monster was rocketing upwards, out of the depth, with a frightening amount of speed, holding its massive hands out as if to reach her. Terrified, Rin ceased her struggling and stood in place like a deer in the headlights, utterly awed and terrified at being the prey of a living mountain. There were the bars, but even with their massive size, the young girl doubted that they'd be able to survive the shock. 

The Three-Tails opened a maw wide enough to easily devour entire city blocks, Rin screamed and… the abomination slammed into the bars. But instead of easily folding like she had thought, they held on surprisingly well, not even bending slightly even when faced with the very definition of "overwhelming force". However, the Tailed Beast refused to have its prey denied and slammed itself against, taking far less time to wind up but still producing a massive shockwave on impact. And it did it again, and again, and again. Each time, the bars held. Each time, the shockwave itself hit Rin and sent the helpless girl flailing around underwater like a ragdoll. The Kunoichi screamed in fright, and vainly tried to gain some balance, but her desperate clawing couldn't match up against the fury of a Tailed Beast, and she was soon sent on a chaotic run through the underwater world, caught in a devastating underwater tornado.

Luckily, it seemed like she was blessed with a measure of protection: No matter how much the wind raged, and no matter how strong the current was, Rin herself was never truly harmed. Thrown around? Of course. But her bones never broke, her skin was never sheared and her body didn't outright implode from all the high-pressure water she was swallowing with each scream. The experience, however, was far too unpleasant for the youth to acknowledge her newfound invulnerability, instead, she desperately prayed for Minato to somehow show up to pull her out of this, or for the current to carry her well away from the madness going downstairs, or from something to happen.

A surprisingly strong grip wrapped around her hand and before Rin could acknowledge what happened, a humanoid shape boosted upwards in the water, fighting off the current with insulting ease. Rin, far too dazed to consider reacting, stood in place, waiting for her savior to put her away. Quickly, the youth realized that they were breaching the surface, something which she had failed to achieve twice. 

Her rescuer leaped out of the water, and Rin instinctively prepared herself to land, though she expected to end up back into the water again. Once again, the mysterious world surprised her, and the duo landed on a platform, at which point the rescuer let go of Rin and the youth dropped on her back, exhausted… Or was she? After some seconds, she realized that she didn't quite felt tired so she just got up and looked up at the person who saved her. "Thank you…" She would have said more, like who they were, but froze.

The man in front of her had spiky grey hair (though some fell over the right side of his face), pink eyes, and a grey attire, albeit with a green poncho on it. He had a rather gnarly stitch scar on his eye, most noticeably, and was carrying a black club with a bizarre hook at the end of it. By now, she had fully recognized her interlocutor, but the Kiri forehead protector he wore on his waist assured her that it truly was him. "Yagura!" Rin got on her feet, pointed, and fell again, in sheer disbelief at the man who stood near her. For his part, Yagura simply put his two hands behind his back and smiled politely at her.

"Well, I guess that I should expect to be known." He said, with a little pride. When Rin got up, she briefly assumed a fighting stance, but Yagura ignored her entirely, turning away to walk to the edge of the platform. The Kunoichi stared at him briefly, expecting an attack at any moment, but yet he did none of that, simply sitting down with his legs crossed. When he saw that Rin had yet to drop her stance, the grey-haired man smiled in amusement, raising a curious eyebrow her way but refusing, for now, to dignify her with an answer, only doing so after the youth dropped the stance and stood straight. "Good." He chuckled. "I'm curious as to why you'd prepare to fight though."

"W-ww-w-w-w-w-wwwell, y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you are the fo-o-o-urth Mi-i-i-izukage." Rin barely managed to stammer out, trying to keep her composure in the face of the strongest man in the world.

"Well, that is a good reason not to fight me!" Yagura laughed a little. "But don't worry, I'm not here to fight." He declared. "In this realm, none of the outside world matters." He got up and began walking around, being followed by Rin. As Yagura spoke, he gestured to the room, and Rin… blinked twice before looking around, keeping her gaze on Yagura from time to time to try to avoid being ambushed. The upper room was different from the underwater world, in that it looked like an industrial setting, though rather old and torn down, since the water that inundated the room came from a bunch of badly damaged pipes up on the roof.

The room was massive, being big enough that Rin struggled to see a brown horizon in the distance. It was also littered with platforms, or old remains of the room that were torn down and flung into the water. Behind her, Rin could see a destroyed flight of stairs, leading up to what appeared to be a door with some writing along with it. She remembered to check it out later if she could, but she was honestly a bit too surprised to satisfy her curiosity.

"… Hm, yeah, don't go there." Yagura spoke. "This facility is a sort of mental world for Bijuus. It's where their cages are kept. You won't find the others here, though, or even their Jinchuurikis." Yagura twirled the club. "Believe me, I'm an old-timer."

"… Hm…" Rin pondered asking him a question, and then realized that she might as well take the help. "Then, who left those?" She pointed to the writing.

"Ah, our dear predecessors did," Yagura said. "But I wouldn't recommend you to read them. The Bijuus put the last thoughts of their victims over the walls of their facilities, as a sort of intimidation tactic. There's nothing but the last words of decaying minds to be found within those words." He said. "The rest is down by the water, but trust me, there's nothing worth seeing there, unless you're into this kind of stuff." He shrugged, and Rin couldn't help but think that he was far more casual than the rumors said… But wasn't deception the tool of a ninja?

"Creepy." She muttered. Rin looked around the room and put her hands on her hips. "So, underwater, that was… it?"

A roar resonated from below, and Yagura raised one finger, though first, he waited for Rin to be done leaping in fright. "… Him, not it." He said. "Bijuus are living beings, you know? And they're smart. Far smarter than most of the people you'll see in your life." He said. "You use "it" to refer to an object or some dumb animal, not a force of nature that has accompanied mankind ever since the beginning."

"Right, s-sorry." Rin went to the edge of the platform and crouched, getting her head close to the water. "SORRY MISTER THREE-T

AILS!" She yelled, getting no answer. Once done, she turned towards her predecessor. Yagura was covering his mouth, obviously amused but trying to keep himself in the role of the unperturbed mentor. 

"You're pretty polite." The Mizukage spoke. "And I don't blame you for making that mistake. Tailed Beasts have been seen as mere tools of destruction by humans for eons." He said. "And you've been raised to think of them that way, too. No shame in it." Yagura paced around the platform. "Anyway, let's address the elephant in the room, shall we? Yes, I am Yagura. Or rather, a sliver of chakra left within this world."

"How did you did this? Are you…" Rin's eyes widened and she got up fully, putting her arms up. "Are you dead?"

"De-" Yagura seemed genuinely taken aback. "No! No oh, I can say I'm between both." As he said that, the Mizukage tapped himself on the chest using his fist. "When a Perfect Jinchuuriki manages to obtain symbiosis with his host, they can impart their chakra one into the other, in case they need it. When Is…" He stopped himself. "When we were separated, we left each other a sliver of our chakras. This allows me to exist in this world, for as long as my other self remains alive, though I'm likely still drifting into death, and…" Yagura sighed, looking tired all of a sudden. "I'm likely in a coma."

"... Are you going to take over me eventually?" Rin asked, after analyzing the news. Yagura stammered in answer.

"O-once again, no! I'm not interested in taking over bodies!" The young-looking man said. "Especially not girls, I'm not a creep." The Kage folded his arms. "I'm not strong enough to do anything besides lightly interacting with you."

"A-alright, but then, why would you two separate?" Once again, Yagura began to pace around, and Rin did the same, not quite trusting him enough to stand close to her. "They say that the two of you are invincible. That if it weren't for the civil war, the Mist would…"

"Well, I wasn't invincible enough not to be exposed to a Genjutsu." Said Yagura. "It's complex, but one night, I was plunged under an illusion, and so was my friend."

"Who could've done this?" Rin spoke, shocked that someone could plunge him under an illusion. Yagura shrugged.

"Unfortunately, I haven't been able to glance at whoever did this. Regardless, they wanted me separated from the Bijuu, and had me cast the order." Yagura then stopped and looked down. "Hm… It might not be appropriate, but I think that our story could wait for later." He pointed down. "You need to speak to the… to him, and prove your worth." At that point, he made an awkward grin, and Rin couldn't help but think about how the rumors associated with this man. One strong enough to fully tame a Tailed Beast, and who terrified the other Kages. "That's a rite of passage that all of us need to accomplish before we can leave."

"Heh?!" Rin leaned forward in shock and cupped her hand near her ear as if to better hear him. "But… You got to be kidding! How am I going to convince him of that? He'll just blow me away, right?"

"That's right. But this world is different from ours. You can't be affected by pain, or at least, any pain brought along fade." He pointed to her arms, and Rin glanced at them. "Well, wounds aren't going to vanish, though, so you can't just go there to avoid dying, unfortunately." He winced. "Time does move slower there, but your body is going to be standing still up until you're out of it."

"B-but I was standing on the water until I blasted myself!" Rin expected Yagura to wave away her concern, but he just blinked incredibly slowly and leaned on his club, rubbing his chin with a concerned look on his face.

"Oh, then you should hurry up before you die." He said. "In all honesty, that moves you did has caused enough of a ruckus that you should get assistance. But still! Let's train with that! You must present yourself to him before drowning in the outer world. Go!" He turned around promptly.

"Hey, wait!" Said Rin. "How am I going to do it?!" 

"Heh." Yagura glanced back. "Just tell yourself that the current can't carry you. It's a battle of will. Yours against the Bijuu's." He tapped on his head with a finger. "Even locked away, a Bijuu has incredible will, and it seeps into the world. You need to match it to be able to avoid being affected by their power. Nothing can harm you underneath the water, nor can it even move you."

"I know but it's… easier said than done." Rin sat down at the edge of the water, prepared to go underneath it, and then moved her legs out of the liquid. "It's quite a sight to behold and I don't know if I can…"

"No one truly expects to face down a Bijuu. It's alright to be scared." Yagura got closer and sat down next to her, though he kept a generous distance, perhaps to avoid freaking her out. He glanced at the entire room with a look of wistful nostalgia, almost admiring it all. "Being a ninja… No, a human in general, will put you in front of unfair situations like these, where there's no other choices or alternatives. It's not a good thing, mind you." He admitted. "But we still need to accept that we have to do with what we're given. If you show your courage to him then you'll be accepted, and you'll grow that much stronger."

Rin listened patiently while he spoke, but Yagura decided to finish it first. "Hm… Hey, as an example. You can always come back here if you want. I'm not asking you to do it perfectly on the second try. Even I couldn't do it like that! So don't feel bad."

"But what about the…"

"Put it out of your mind. You're doing something complex." He said. "Those can't be done by being hasty. I know it's an easy thing to say." Yagura apologetically smiled at Rin. "But there's a finesse to doing things, right? You're a medic, so you know that."

"How did you…" Rin looked down at her pouch, and briefly wondered if it had equipment before she sighed. "… You're right. Well, I'm off then." The Nohara got up. Was she fearless? No. But she had a goal of a sort, and she knew that she needed to get it done. "This is your chance to demonstrate your backbone, Rin." She told herself. "Don't screw it up! Beyond this wall, there's the next world for you to access! The first step towards greater power!" She almost wanted to chide her mind for the cheesy encouragement, but it did help her to gain the courage to finally dive down into the water. The medic did so with much greater force than anticipated, or the room was very shallow: Very soon, she had the cage in her sight, along with its resident. She stared at the massive turtle, and more current came her way.

"Steel through it!" It was a hard thing to do, as promised by Yagura, but Rin nonetheless refused to let herself be so easily subdued, and tried to move downward, imagining that her arms and legs would carry her through the fiercest tempests. The current struggled against her for a moment but at no point did she give up. Instead, she kept her eyes on the cage, swimming down with all her available might.

"I can't!" Ah, how was she speaking while in the midst of such a heavy underwater turmoil? Rin saw it as another proof that it was fake, and somehow her swimming became even faster for it. The strength of the current faded with each second, becoming naught but a light push in the span of a few seconds. And yet this was only the feeling. Rin was only accelerating her swimming meanwhile. "I can't speak to you through all that noise! So you better hear me out!" Once she made it in front of the cage, Rin glanced at the monstrosity laid beneath and pointed at it, gathering her courage. "I have to introduce myself! So, please, do listen to me!"

Silence ensued, and Rin almost moved to the next phase of the plan before the Three-Tails approached the bar, with clear fury on its face. Rin stopped herself as a result, surprised at seeing such a human look on the face of a beast. Or perhaps she was simply terrified with seeing anger on the face of a massive chakra titan? The uncertainty came back to her, and the creature cunningly took advantage of this. 

"SILENCE! ME WILL NOT HEAR YOUR WHINING!" The voice proved more than potent enough to send Rin flying, and this time she didn't quite have the will to fight back against the current, finding herself helplessly thrown around once more. "YOU SPEAK TO ME! NOT OTHER DUMB GNAT! SHOW RESPECT!" His voice was like thunder, blaring forth across the water, and Rin suspected that her ears would have burst if not for this world's oddities. Nonetheless, while she was safe from harm, she wasn't safe from being thrown out of the water, sailing across the air and smacking back on the platform, face first. Briefly, she went limp before getting back on her feet, checking her nose as if it had been broken before realizing that it was still fine.  
"I guess things didn't go according to plan." Yagura sat behind her, legs crossed, holding unto the club. "Don't worry, I've heard it all."

"Well yeah, it could've gone better." Rin wrung some clothes, unable to contain her disappointment. "I'm such a screw-up…"

"No one does it on the second try… or, just so you know, the third, the fourth… Even I struggled to even speak to him, at first." Indicated Yagura. "And he's more upset than before so it's probably going to be even harder." Rin thought of sarcastically complimenting him, but he was helping her so it'd be rather rude. And besides, he spoke the truth. She figured that it wasn't going to be easy to speak to a Bijuu separated from a host that seemed to be the perfect fit. Huh… speaking of this, maybe she could?

"I can't talk to him." Yagura seemingly figured out the reason behind Rin's ponder in a second. "It's your responsibility do to so, and I doubt that this would make things better for you. If you need any tips though, you should try to get him distracted. I did so by listening to him." The Mizukage held up one finger. "He never thought I'd do it, so he was baffled enough that I managed to present myself."

"Hm…" Rin stroked her chin. "If I do that, then maybe he'll figure it out. I wonder what else I could do…" She began to pace around the platform. Somehow, the Three-Tails's voice didn't carry into the room itself anymore, or he had simply stopped talking. "Heh, I'm going to try again then! Wish me luck!"

"Heh, good luck!"

…

Rin emerged out of the water and glanced at Yagura with puppy eyes, not getting into the platform yet. "It didn't work."

…

The young girl flew out of the water, as if carried by an extremely strong current, and made a perfect jump over the platform itself. Yagura, who stood on it, observed her flight with great interest, silently holding up one thumb near the end.

"IT DIDN'T WORK!" She yelled, crashing into the water again.

…

"Do you think he'd be confused if I… started to just sing?"

"No, he wouldn't."

…

"I'm going to do it this time!" Rin dove into the water, and Yagura sat at the edge of the platform for about one minute. Right on schedule, the medic timidly emerged out of the water. "Nevermind that." She said, before spitting out some water.

"It didn't work?" Yagura asked, earnestly.

"It didn….. yeah." Rin pulled herself into the platform and stretched her arms. "I need to hurry up and find something that will, though!"

"Usually, the most complex problems have the smartest solutions. Is there something you could do that would be enough to cause it to stop? Something you could say, perhaps?"

"Well, I doubt that he can hear me." Rin inserted her fingers into her ears. "I'd need to… Heh, I think I have an idea now!" As she said that, the youth hit her head full force, aware that she'd shrug it off. "I'm so dumb for not having figured it out!"

"Oh? Pray tell, what kind of trick will you use?" Said Yagura. "Oh, wait, he'll probably hear it. Just go along and use it." The Mizukage held his hand up. "Now go, and may you meet success on your way." Then, he stood still for a moment and lowered his hand, smiling. "I'm sorry, I guess it's my old habits creeping in. You don't lead a village without picking up a few habits."

Rin laughed a little. "It's fine, it does encourage me! Hey!" The chûnin snapped her fingers and then looked at him. "Are you still going to be there afterward? I do think it was just the beginning but…" 

"I'll stay with you until my real self dies." He said, bluntly. "I'm going to teach you what you're going to need to learn to live on. I know that you're probably confused by this, but as I said, I'm not the Mizukage here. I'm a Jinchuurki… Well, was, but I'm going to spend my last moments on this Earth helping you, so you can give him a proper home after I'm gone."

"A proper home…" Rin looked at Yagura with an apologetic look. "I'm not sure if I can replicate your feat though. I.."

"It's fine. It took me a lot of time to do it too, you know?" He said. "You're a smart girl. You'll be able to do it. And I'll help you two get along, so that he'll have someone he can trust in my absence."

Rin gulped a little, aware that she had some trust placed on her, and briefly looked away before looking back. "But, well, I'm from a different village, and you're the Kage so…"

"It doesn't matter anymore, I'm about to die." He said, far too casual for Rin to be comfortable with. "As a Jinchuuriki, your tailed beast will be your only true companion. I care more about him than I care about… A lot of things. I want to leave him in good hands before I go into the great beyond." He said. "You might disagree with me, or think I'm insane, and that's normal, but you'll see what I mean." Yagura grew serious. "When you become a Jinchuuriki, other people will abandon you. They will think of you like you're no different from what you're housing within your body. You'll be left behind and ignored. A Tailed Beast, however, will be there with you to the very end. They will become your sole companion. Because they're forced to." He admitted. "But, with time, I believe that the bond between a host and a Tailed Beast is great. Far greater than whatever fragile relationships you'll be able to build."

Rin simply glanced at Yagura, and rubbed her chin, rather unsettled by his speech. Would she be seeing the world in a similar light in a few years? Surely not everyone would just leave her behind. Kakashi and Minato were currently helping her, she was sure Lady Kushina would also assist her, and there were a lot of people also doing their best to protect her, could they? 

"Well, regardless, don't forget you're supposedly still underwater in the real world. We should move on." Yagura pointed and stood up, taking a deeper voice. "Go forth, and be brave."

"Alright!" Rin reflexively saluted, because of the authority Yagura exerted, and dove underwater. The young man waited for her to be out of sight, and then sat down on the platform, grinning smugly to himself.

Below, Rin once again made her way through the current, and came back to the sight of the Three-Tails behind his cage, waiting to spew his venom. "It's the only thing he can do. Just stand firm, alright?" The Jinchuuriki nodded to herself and swam a decent distance away from the cage, to better observe her "partner". The beast sighed and its enormous eye glared down at her, like she was nothing more than an insect.

"YOU PERSISTENT. AND STUPID. LIKE ALL OTHER HUMANS! COWARDLY TOO! COWARDLY LITTLE RUNT! TAKE COWARD JOB! HEAL OTHERS BECAUSE SHE CAN'T FIGHT HERSELF." The beast's odd manner of speaking would have amused Rin, and it was indeed odd that an entity as old as Humanity would communicate like that, but something about being yelled at by a moving island was a bit shocking. However, Rin refused to back off again, and waited for her occasion, simply staring at the beast as he ranted.

"ME DWELL ON EARTH BACK WHEN YOUR ANCESTORS STILL STUPID MONKEYS CRAWLING ON TREES! BUT ME NEVER SEES SOMEONE AS STUPID AND WEAK AS YOU! YOU SPECIAL FOR SURE… NOT IN A GOOD WAY!!!" The chûnin frowned. The insults themselves weren't imaginative, but the sheer noise was deafening. By all means, he intended to drown her out so that she couldn't simply speak up. But why? Why'd he do this when Rin herself was in danger? Wouldn't dying in the outer world cause him to die as well? 

"CAN'T SPEAK? FORGOT HOW TO SPEAK? YES BECAUSE YOU ARE ENORMOUS DUMB! OPPOSITE OF SMART! NOW YOU WILL SAY SOMETHING DUMB! OR RUN AWAY! YOU GO HOME TO MAMA?! OH WAIT! YOU CAN'T!" Slowly, the monster began to run out of insults, and Rin saw an opportunity to act! Blinking once, the young girl leaned forward and calmly raised a finger to pull her left eyelid, while sticking her tongue out. A childish gesture, but an effective one in this context, for the Three-Tails, stopped talking, baffled by Rin's gesture, or even the lack of respect presented to him. "WHAT IS YOU DOING?????" He asked, completely confused.

"Getting your attention!" Rin pointed straight at the beast. "You talk a big game, mister Three-Tails, but I'm your new host, Rin Nohara, and you better believe that I'm not going to just let you insult me! Or my mum!" The rules of this bizarre placed worked their magic again, for Rin speak with a lot of confidence. A lot more than what she thought someone as timid as she could gather. "Alright! Can you please let me out of this world? I'm not exactly going to live if I stay underwater!"

"STUPID RIN IS NOT IN DANGER" The beast answered, shaking its head wildly. "BUT SHE WILL LEAVE NOW. HAS PROVEN HERSELF VERY NOT SMART THOUGH! NAME IS STUPID RIN NOW!"

"N-no! My name… Well, alright, but I'm going to prove you wrong the first chance I get, got it?" Rin smiled, brimming with confidence… and a bit of embarrassment at her nickname. Then, before she knew it, her world flipped and she found herself in a different location without the slightest warning. A second ago, she was being glared at by the mighty Three-Tails. The very next second, she was in the presence of Kakashi and Minato, both looking concerned. Rin prepared to speak to express her confusion, but spat out some water and flipped on her stomach to expel more water.

"What were you doing, Rin?!" Kakashi spoke with grave concern in his voice, though since Rin was confused, he held back a little. "Training that late is already pretty special but… why did you blast yourself into the water like that?"

"Even if my clones hadn't been observing you, that Jutsu would've woken us up alright." Minato was calmer, meanwhile, but took a stern voice. "Please, do not do that again. You could've gotten yourself seriously injured." The blond man knelt next to Rin and noticed her confusion. "If the training is too slow for you, you could always tell us. Don't just sneak out to do it on your own, alright?"

"I'm s-s-sorry." The water was colder than back in the inner world, where it was agreeably warm. Thankfully, she soon had a blanket draped over her shoulder. "I… I just had a nightmare and I guess I wanted to tire myself out before sleeping." At the mention of a nightmare, both teachers eased a little, Kakashi especially. "I guess it was stupid, yeah. But, you know, with the hunters and the context of the war, I don't want to be weak."

"You were never weak." Reassured Minato. Rin smiled wearily. "And this place is well-protected. I understand your frustration, but training diligently like that will allow you to get much stronger over time. You'll notice." He said. "And if you have nightmares, you can always talk about them to us, alright? We're hardly therapists, heh, but you can still confide in us if you ever feel troubled, alright?" 

"… Yeah." Rin stretched her arms and shakily got back up. "Well, if anything, I do feel tired so… Should we head back? Oh, and thanks for stopping me from drowning too!" The medic eventually said. 

"Heh, don't worry about it. Alright, let's go." The trio began heading out, and Kakashi walked next to Rin. After staying silent for a moment, he turned to her, and she understood his question perfectly, nodding somberly to him. 

"… I have the same nightmares." He said. "We can talk about it whenever you want, alright?" He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, and Rin very nearly passed out again, struggling to fight past her sheer joy at the gesture. 

"O-of course! I'd… oh, huh, I guess there's something I should talk to you guys about!" Rin would have skipped ahead, but Kakashi holding her hand felt nice. "I, erm, met the Three-Tails!" At that point, Kakashi and Minato alike turned to her, eyes wide open in utter shock. She could even see Kakashi's mouth agape, behind his mask. "He's… pretty nice but a bit insulting at times!"

"….. What?" Asked Minato, for once utterly baffled.

…

The Village Hidden by the Mist was a peculiar construct. Once of much larger size than the others, it had unfortunately seen a reduction in size following the destructive Civil War of the Mist. Separatists and loyalists alike fought within the city, and the apex of their fights more often than not flattened entire blocks, smashing them to utter rubbles and forcing the survivors to flee into more secure areas. For a while, the Mist had the honor of harboring the smallest Hidden Village of all, with its population awkwardly huddled together in "secure" blocks.

The rise of Yagura, however, led to changes, and those changes included renovating the parts of the village left to nature. The fourth Mizukage single-handedly managed to repair blocks abandoned for a decade thanks to his abilities over coral, inherited from his Bijuu. Using his odd power source, Yagura managed to easily repair structures still left standing, or made entire buildings worth of coral, where inhabitants could reside after some further renovation.

Spindly towers of corals loomed over the sky of the village, or wrapped themselves around pre-existing buildings, keeping them together and allowing the inhabitants to take them as a bridge to easily cross buildings. Yagura's palace, while mostly unchanged, used coral to hoist the Mizukage's office very high into the air, taller than any tower, so that he could, in his own words, better observe his village. And his influence grew each year, as more structures were built. 

The walls defending the village were also renovated, and featured a particularly nasty version of the coral, capable of easily absorbing chakra. That way, attacks from afar would be easily absorbed, and attackers would find themselves drained of their chakra upon contact, preventing a direct assault from being mounted and forcing other nations to uses weaker tools to attempt to lay siege upon the city.

This gave the place an esoteric charm to it, thanks to its odd architecture. At the very least, it was different from any other village. 

But more importantly, the coral served as a reminder that Yagura was the leader, and that he would not let his subjects ever forget that. The old Kiri was withering away, replaced with his coral, as a sign of how he would eventually erase the memories of his predecessor. Of course, a few were worried by this, but what could they do, besides keeping their heads down? A new era was dawning on the world.

And Yagura, from very high above in his office, opened the world, once more beholding the silent world under his command. "Rin Nohara." He spoke, putting his hands behind his back. He smirked mockingly. "Stupid girl."

…

A/N: Hello!

We meet the Three-Tails and Yagura! Our boy is nice but a bit ambiguous! What could he be planning? Also yeah, I do think that I'm going to make the Tailed Beasts "deadlier" in the fic, certainly more eldritch at least! Kurama at full size would probably be pretty big in the fic.

Also, I'm going to change how the Jinchuuriki states work, you'll see it very soon I promise!

What did you think of this chapter? Reviews are very welcome!

See ya later!


	8. The swords of the Mist.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Rin is continuing her training, her predecessor still draw breath, and plot from behind the Mist.

The club spun along in the air gracefully, being observed by three different pairs of fearful eyes. "Seven legendary swords, each wielded by shinobis who've proven themselves to be the finest ninjas of this village…" The weapon continued on its merry path, water trailing along with it. Instead of simply failing though, it remained suspended in mid-air, forming a rather beautiful circle over the head of the wielder, Yagura, who held the weapon over his head with one hand. "An entire unit worth of you. Seven swordsmen with the power and ruthlessness to be feared amongst all the nations, be they great or pitiful."

Yagura stopped, took a deep breath, and then smashed the club directly on the floor, hitting the concrete structure hard enough to blow a hole straight through it. The shock alone caused the swordsmen, trained as they were, to twitch a little, fearful that Yagura would attempt to hit them with a similar blow. "And YET!" He yelled, approaching them fast, his eyes wide open in anger. "Yet you were ALL decimated by a common GENIN IN DIRECT COMBAT! How pitiful is that?!" Yagura stood at these men's waists, or even knees in Fuguki's case, yet they all humbly cowered in front of him. 

Though perhaps they had all been humbled before. Of the three, only the fish-man looked intact. Both Juzo and Raiga, meanwhile, had a lot of bandages on them, though at the very least their faces could be seen. Juzo was especially humiliated, since his mighty sword, the great Kubikiribocho, had been snapped in half by a particularly mighty kick, forcing him to carry around the remaining half. There were other reasons for him to still carry the broken sword, but all the actors in the room knew that the broken sword served as yet another reminder of what had transpired in the forest.

"Milord," Fuguki spoke, being perhaps the only one brave enough to speak to Yagura while the latter was in his mood. He did stop when the Mizukage glared at him, but found the gumption to continue. "The genin had used a forbidden Jutsu to strike a lethal blow. We may as well have been fighting the Hokage, at that point." He replied. "It is a troublesome blow, but our pupils…"

"I would expect you to be able to defeat the Hokage." Simply said Yagura. "And regardless, the other nations will see fit to… change that part of the story. If anything, it'll only embolden Konoha!" The youth turned around and put his hands behind his back. "The bizarre events of these path months have done much to dispel the image of Kiri that I wanted to give to the rest of the world, and invaders are sure to try to reach our gates at any moment. They already have." Yagura walked back to his desk, acting as if he hadn't just smashed a hole into the floor, and sat back down on it. "The Cloud has sent a small fleet to Kabikuri port, with the intent of sacking it, to punish us for attacking their ships and to help their war effort. You will go north, and fend them off. I hope that you know what you'll need to do afterward."

"We will take our apprentices and train them at Mizuri sea." Said Juzo, eager to get back into the good graces. Yagura smiled slightly and nodded, like an adult complimenting a child. 

"Yes. You will need to get the group back on track. We'll have to delay the plan." Yagura's fury crept back in his voice. "So you'll be able to reform the group again. Do everything you can to have a complete team in that period."

"With all due respect-" Yagura glared at Fuguki, and the fish-man wisely backed off, being faced with a killing intent so incommensurably huge, he temporarily imagined his massacred body being thrown off the Mizukage's office to crash into the streets below. Just as he imagined, afterward, that he and his comrades would be violently torn apart in a crimson tornado, being completely overpowered and killed before they could even draw their swords. 

Of course, Yagura wouldn't kill off the rest of the Swordsmen, since this would ensure that there wouldn't be anyone left to train the new generation… But Samehada's wielder felt that the Mizukage was growing a bit crazier with the recent events, and accepted that he was overruled.

"I don't care how long it should take. You've spent years grooming your successors, right? Do what you have to do, but in a few months, I want the swordsmen to accomplish something major for the invasion." He spoke. "You're all dismissed." Yagura rose from his seat. "But I'll be coming with you to handle the Cloud as well. I'm not trusting any of you not to screw up."

"It would be a great honor to behold your destructive power again, Lord Mizukage," Raiga said, having wisely waited for an opportunity to offer a compliment. He hated being a sycophant, but he knew that the swordsmen desperately needed to regain their lord's respect. After all, what was stopping him from doing to them what he had done to the one who made them famous to begin with, the Third Mizukage? Raiga wasn't sucking up just to save his own life. He was doing it to save his teammates, his group, and the legacy of his former teacher.

"The world needs a reminder of what the Mist can do after all. Go ahead and gather your students while I prepare." The three swordsmen humbly nodded, and left the room, leaping down the massive coral tower that held the office high up in the air. Yagura waited for them to be gone, and gestured for a terrified secretary. "Repair the hole, and see if there's any more idiocy in need of solving before I depart." Once that was done, he closed his eyes and carefully put his two fingers on his temple, standing aside to better talk to him.

He entered his inner world, a plain of existence similar to a sea full of stars and clouds. Though, to Yagura's regret, several black spots had appeared in his inner world, slowly warping the reality around them and causing it to act blurry. When he glanced at Isobu behind him, he was relieved to see that his friend was still pretty clear, though the occasional flickers of his friend, that caused him to vanish from time to time, reminded Yagura all too painfully of their separation.

"YOU SEEM TROUBLED!" Isobu spoke. 

"Hm. Nothing more than usual human stupidity." Said the Mizukage. He glanced down at the water and frowned. "Ever since you left, I've begun to realize that without you, I would've probably gone insane a long time ago. This village sure has some bright geniuses inhabiting it." Yagura rolled his eyes, and Isobu chuckled, his deep voice causing the water to stir and the stars to flicker.

"WHAT WILL YOU DO NEXT NOW? IT ANNOYS ME TO NO LONGER BEING ABLE TO SEE EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING." Said the giant turtle. "INSTEAD, I MUST BE A SPECTATOR TO THE MEDIOCRITY OF THIS YOUNG HUMAN'S LIFE."

"Nohara? Hm, yes." Yagura said. "A shame that she had to be caught in all of this. But oh well… Keep me informed of her progression." He said. "It's a shame I can't see through that sliver of chakra."

"IT IS DOING WELL." A faint tinge of humor crept in Isobu's voice. Most would be surprised at this, since they had been foolishly taught that the Tailed Beasts were simply large animals filled with purposeless malice, but Yagura knew that at least his partner was much smarter than all of the humans that he had the misfortune of encountering. "THOUGH I FEAR THAT HE MAY STRANGLE THE GIRL BEFORE SHE CAN BE BROUGHT HOME."

"Heh, if she's killed, you could always come back to life." Yagura half-joked back. "Though doing so to you would be distasteful… Anyhow, have you gathered any information on their surroundings? The Leaf is aware of some… leaks, and my mole has been too busy avoiding suspicions to find anything. And it seems that only the higher-ups know of it."

"NO. THE HUMAN USED THAT TELEPORTATION JUTSU, AND THERE APPEAR TO BE A PROTECTIVE SEAL… PERHAPS I COULD TWIST HER HEART AND MIND? BREAK THEM INTO MANY LITTLE PIECES UNTIL SHE UNDO THE SEAL…"

"No… She'll run crying to her caretakers, and besides, those incompetent hunters won't be able to get past the Yellow Flash or Hatake." He rubbed his chin. Why did he have to pick the student of the world's fastest man and the colleague of the boy with the Sharingan? Of course, there would've been heavy defenses if it had been anyone else, but the coincidence was nonetheless very annoying. "I can wait for a few months. The training should take place at that time, right?"

"IT WILL BE DANGEROUS." Hissed Isobu. "YOU WILL NEED TO BE VERY ECONOMIC WITH THE CHAKRA THAT YOU HAVE LEFT. NOT EVEN YOU WILL SURVIVE IF YOU DRAIN YOURSELF OF IT..."

"I'll survive, as I always did. And they can't hide in their hole forever." Yagura glanced at the palm of his hand and closed it. "The war will begin again, and Minato will come out of his hole. Then we'll move." The Mizukage closed his eyes. "Anyway, I am off to deal with some invaders. It appears, after all, that even my best men cannot be trusted to complete simple assignments."

"BE CAREFUL, YAGURA." Warned Isobu. And, without much warning, the great beast vanished, leaving Yagura alone in his decaying mindscape. The grey-haired man took a few glances at the endless horizon, and sighed, before looking up. As he did so, he returned to the real world, now looking at the misty horizon, beyond the towers of coral. 

"Time to remind the world of my terror."

…

Raiga stood on a hill, observing the port of Kabukuri in all its glory… As well as the rows of battleships, far on the horizon currently approaching it. By their design and size, they were made by Kumo. The inhabitants of Kiri disliked those particular boats: They were powered by lightning, allowing them to move without the help of the wind, and electricity could be quickly activated along the hull when an attack was ongoing, shocking the ninjas who were currently boarding it and evening the odds for the inhabitants of the Cloud.

They also boasted cannons of great size, powered by chakra and capable of laying waste to buildings with ease. A single boat could significantly damage a city of Kabukuri's size just by firing those cannons at it, and there were currently rows and rows of it. He doubted that they would fire, though: After all, Kumo needed resources (like the rest of the Nations), and the port town was known for its trading. With luck, those ninjas were here to seize the resources and control the port, and that meant that time was still available. If they weren't lucky, however, then they would simply bombard the port into ruins and move on, and that would give the group significantly less time to proceed.

"What are we waiting for?" A youthful voice squeaked behind Raiga, and he glanced at Ameyuri, his pupil, and a prodigy with killing techniques, swordsmanship, and ninjutsu. The girl, who barely reached up to her master's knees, smiled in a manner that revealed her sharp teeth. "We need to kill them all before they kill us all!"

"Lord Yagura will do that. Stay put." Raiga glanced at how the ships were positioned: Wisely, they had chosen to keep a generous distance between each other, to avoid being hit by a massive Jutsu. However, they were close enough that, should one of the boats ever fall under attack, another ship could quickly arrive to bring some aid. Rather troublesome, since they couldn't possibly kill off the entire crew of a ship before help could arrive. 

By all admissions, they were fully prepared to fight the shinobis of the Mist. Raiga would acknowledge them.

Too bad for them that they hadn't prepared to face a demi-god, Raiga thought as a single black projectile flew over the town and collided into one of the ships before the defenders or attackers could react. The Swordsman, himself used to high-speed battle, barely had enough time to shield Ameyuri's eyes as well as his own, before a hellish sound struck.

There was nothing but light for five seconds, and then the inhabitants of the Mist lowered their arms in time to glance at an explosion of phenomenal size, almost as large as the port that they were supposed to defend. The wind howled shortly before the shockwave of the attack reached the observers, prompting Raiga to grab his pupil by the collar to hold her firmly in place. This prevented his young pupil from being lifted off her feet and allowed her to cheer at the mayhem that occurred in front of her. Below, Raiga saw the glasses shatters, and the people in the street were violently lifted off their feet, being sent slamming into buildings that looked like they would crack at any moment. The sea, as if awakened by the blast, roared, and mighty waves raged around the spot of the explosion, each colossal enough to deal severe damage to the port should they reach it. Fortunately for the trading town, shinobis were already taking care of it, using their combined prowess to tame the waves coming at the city, though it took about a dozen of them working in unison to correctly perform such a feat.

The thunder struck above the explosion, and in its wake, nothing was left, expect a crater that was promptly filled. Nearby, the few ships that managed to remain out of reach of the explosion were using every bit of power they had to fight against the titanic waves and the sudden flow of water that was pouring into the crater. As expected of those wonder of technologies, the boats managed to resist the fury of the elements, using their powerful engines to withstand the sea. Meanwhile, Raiga just quietly signaled to his pupil, and both fearlessly descended into the raging sea, landing atop a tall wave and immediately leaping to another. At some point, Ameyuri, intrepid as ever, even deliberately ran up a wave, instead of simply leaping from top to top.

The mist slowly coiled unto the area, like a snake approaching its prey, but the troubled circumstances did not impair either assassins as they approached the boats. As he got closer and closer, Raiga was amused to notice that the hull of the ship had been shut off, to the panic of the boat's residents. He moved to warn his student, but the redhead had already set up two clones, and glanced at her teacher with one eye, while still skillfully riding the waves. The Swordsman smiled ever so slightly, yet proudly, and she nearly beamed before her smile regained its vicious edge, at the approach of conflict.

With the boat's main defense gone, Raiga made two clones on his own, sheathed his blades, and had one first run up the hull. To his satisfaction, the clone effortlessly reached its destination, prompting the others to make the journey upwards. A few shinobis were present on the ship, staring in awe at the explosion still in the distance, and offered a nice rows of heads to be taken. Ameyuri and Raiga drew their swords, and the latter's characteristic lightning sound was the last thing that these poor men and women heard.

It took two swipes, nothing more, to get rid of those, and the massacre started quietly. Raiga, Ameyuri, and their clones moved through the mist with quiet precision and cut down the shinobis in their paths. Raiga himself was clean and efficient, simply decapitating his victims or cleanly stabbing them through the heart, but he could sometimes hear sharper screams of pain in the fog, along with the occasional jet of blood and light cackling. The swordsman made no noise to give away his position, but he still took some mental notes.

All that mattered was reaching a particular room first, though since she had her area, he wasn't too worried about her leaving it. And the room that he was searching for was in his half of the ship, somewhere in its bowels. That was the trickier part, since the fog had a harder time settling in interiors. And, indeed, when the real Raiga descended the stairs, casually stabbing a man who was seeking safety underground in passing, he noticed that the mist was somewhat lighter here, meaning that he would have a harder time sneaking around.

For instance, whereas the swordsman had enjoyed more or less a free ride through his journey on the deck, he had already been spotted and attacked by a particularly brave shinobi, who laid in wait for enemy shinobis to get in. Made aware of an enemy presence by the sight of his teammate's corpse going down the stairs, the defender immediately swiped with a blade coated in lightning, intending to cut the attacker in half with a powerful blow.

Raiga briefly analyzed the stance, but also the speed and strength of the attack, and found a small modicum of respect for his soon-to-be-dead foe. With effortless ease, he raised one of Kiba's blades and intercepted the attack. A lightning blade could cleave through anything, which is why so many of the Cloud's soldiers practiced with swords, but Kiba was naturally enhanced with lightning, and quite easily resisted the shock of the attack. Of course, the fighters themselves weren't equal: The ninja was good, yes, but the enemy he tackled only needed one hand (without even trying) to counter his furious offensive. Sparks flew, caused by the shock of the encounter and the nature of the element they wielded, but Raiga easily won out, eventually swinging Kiba forward to cleanly slice through the empowered sword as if it was some wooden training tool.

His attacker stared at the wrecked sword in abject horror but was given no time to dwell on his coming fate. "I'll hold a funeral for your sake." Muttered Raiga, before coldly slicing his enemy in two with a single swipe of his sword. Once done, the Swordsman then quickened the pace, running inside the gargantuan bowels of the ship, effortlessly slicing through the panicked members of the crew before they could start putting up a defense. So prodigious were his assassinating skills that, in mere minutes, both him and Ameyuri made a ghost ship out of the vessels.

His blades teeming with lightning and the blood of his enemies, the powerful wielder of Kiba approached the doors leading to the communications and kicked the metal construct off its hinges in a casual manner, arriving at another scene of slaughter, but not caused by him or his student. Instead, the aggressor, who was tying up an unconscious shinobi, was a tall woman with short blonde hair, and a blank stare, which she calmly leveled at Raiga.

All around her were corpses and destroyed devices. No need to be a tech whiz to understand that those particular tools were powering the ship… And they had just been sabotaged by Izumi. 

"Good work." Complimented one of the Mist's top shinobis, casually leaping down the stairs to rejoin his subordinate. After sizing her up, his slight smile vanished to make way for a more neutral appearance. "It takes only the smallest drop…"

"To wash a river red with blood." Raiga dropped his sword slightly, and simply paved the way for Izumi, though he glanced at the computers briefly.

"A shame that we won't be picking those up." He contemplated. "They seem efficient."

"As if the ninjas here could even start to use those." Izumi glanced at Raiga and gulped slightly when she noticed just who she was flippantly talking to. "Ah, my sincerest apologies for my comment, milord."  
"It's fine. Why would I kill you when you made it this easy? Anyway, let's go together." He said. "I do not trust Ameyuri to recognize you within the mist." 

…

The Mist had long since cultivated something of a reputation as a mysterious village even amongst the others. Whereas all the others were big sprawling cities left for anyone to see, the Mist was always a bit of a secret city, and rumors said that finding it required knowledge of a special path through the forest. Failing that, a foolhardy merchant or enemy ninja would be left to die, at the hands of the beasts that dwelt in the jungles, enemy ninjas, or the various natural deathtraps within it.

With the weakening of its army, Kiri had only emphasized its reputation to try and ward off any war hawks on the other village. It was currently about to use a fairly tried-and-true one, though Raiga, who stood at the edge of the ship he just cleared, wondered if his colleague had the same patience as he had. When Juzo emerged out of the mist with his star pupil, Zabuza, he was relieved to see that the young man was dragging a helpless Cloud shinobi by one arm… after having twisted the other to prevent her from composing any hand seals. Juzo, meanwhile, had taken the lion's share of the kills, going by the now unscathed state of the Executioner's Blade. 

Not that Raiga could blame him. He wouldn't have many occasions to repair it, and Yagura visibly hated seeing a mighty blade like that cleaved in half. 

On the other hand, it was now Fuguki's turn to approach, accompanied by the youth from the clan Hoshigaki. Kisame, was it? They also carried a wounded survivor, though one of them (he guessed the kid) had been even more ruthless, simply cutting off the survivor's arms. They took the precaution of making tourniquets, but Raiga frowned. That'd potentially be one less witness. 

Raiga kicked a white lifeboat into the water and both he and his student jumped down to stand near it. All around them, various Mist shinobis were crawling around the boats, to understand how they worked, being guided by the moles set up within the spared ships. One could call it lucky that they managed to be on the ships that survived Yagura's attack, but the Mist was much more-well informed than it looked, and the moles knew where to hide. Yagura's idea of disabling the villages through the inside was working well, it seemed.

The six swordsmen met up near the lifeboat, and Kisame's beady eyes set upon his fellows. "… How many did you kill?" He asked, casually. Unlike the other young ninjas, the shark brat was casual with his homicidal tendencies. He enjoyed slaughtering his foes, but outside of combat, he was relatively well-composed and polite, though very open about his bloodlust. Raiga found it a bit unnerving, and he had learned that even Fuguki found his student to be an odd one.

"…50." Said Zabuza, smirking beneath the bandaged face. Ameyuri grinned triumphantly upon hearing this. 

"I killed the double of that." She boasted, holding up two fingers. Zabuza looked annoyed, but said nothing else, quietly settling his eyes aside. But the redhead's mocking laughter soon got the best out of the youth's stoicism, and the conversation began again soon enough.

"It's not the number that matter. It's how they're done." Declared Juzo's pupil. "You should learn that, Ameyuri."

"Wise words, Zabuza, wise words indeed. The numbers of kills do not matter." Kisame clapped twice and then dropped his arms to the side. He grinned slowly. "I've killed 110 of them." 

"Hrmph, and I pegged you as the one with a brain."

"Hey, you hypocritical shithead!" Retorted Ameyuri and Zabuza, each acting fittingly enough. Kisame smiled even more, but before any definitive action could be taken, Fuguki decided that he has had enough and stepped forward, putting the wounded person on the boat.

"Enough out of you three." Dismissed Fuguki, before glancing at a terrified inhabitant from the Cloud. "I trust that you are comfortable?" He said, shoving him deeper. A few ninjas ran around, bring just enough rations for the three of them to snack on. "Given how aggressive your village has been recently, I expect you to be rescued by a ship… But it would be quite impolite to simply let you go without the proper amount of nutrition, so have these." As the leader of the Swordsmen (a self-proclaimed title that the others disagreed with), Fuguki was the one who'd announce what would happen. By this point, the other two Swordsmen's task was to essentially sit there and look intimidating.

Preposterous of them to merely act like that, but Raiga didn't quite care about the final phase of the Culling when he saw trouble in the horizon, and so did Juzo as well, if his vacant stare was any indication. Besides, while they were both killers, Fuguki had that quiet, contained sadism to him that made it very easy for him to deliver it. It made sense: He did hail from a clan of barbarian hybrids.

"B… but we cannot travel through the rough sea on this lifeboat! It is too small!"

"Oh? I thought that those of the village of the Cloud tamed the storm." Hinted Fuguki. "But know that you have no choice but to comply anyway. Pray to your gods, and see if they answer." The Sharkman folded his arms. "You will be brought back to your home country, and you will be interrogated about the failure of the mission. They will want answers, and who could blame them? Their mighty armada reduced to three hapless fools and a life craft." Fuguki looked down. "I intend for you to explain, in full detail, what happened here, be it the explosion or the slaughter of your crew members at our hands. You will tell it all, in loving details… Understood?"

Ameyuri moved her hands to her pockets to strap explosives, but Raiga glanced disapprovingly and she shoved it back instead. Not for this particular boat.

"We will tell everything." Said the bravest of the survivor, or perhaps the one most awake. "But if you think that they're scared, we…"

"We do hope that you won't be scared. After all, it would be nice to send some more of these our way." Explained Fuguki, jamming a thumb over to the boats. "No matter what the Cloud will do, no matter what tantrum the Raikage will throw… No one may dare to openly challenge the Mist and walk away." The Shark put his foot on the life craft. "But if you are so eager to meet us again, then know that this will eventually happen. We are eager to share our traditions with your country."

Fuguki kicked the boat away, and it sailed off into the fog, with its tree inhabitants. Immediately afterward, Fuguki pointed down at the water, and two of his clan jumped down into it, to ensure that the Cloud shinobis wouldn't get knocked over by a rogue wave or some other phenomenon. A menace's purpose was to be felt, after all, and it needed to reach the Raikage's ears. The fresh Ay was quite eager to encounter successes on the battlefield to establish himself after all, and the news of the defeat, and Yagura's continued activity, would surely shake him to his core.

A pity he couldn't see the meltdown.

"That was awesome!" Ameyuri's voice cut into the silence of the mist. "I hope that they send an even bigger attack force next time. My blades are still hungry to feed on the blood of those dogs of the mist!"

"There won't be a next time." Said Raiga. "At least for a while. You are all going to Mizuri sea, remember? The Mizukage want you to be on par… no, better than the Swordsmen that came before you." The older man grinned. "You'll be wishing you were off fighting Cloud attack forces. I'm going to make your life utter hell for the coming months." To the redhead's credit, she only froze up in surprise for one second before smiling back, only sweating slightly.

"Hm? It shouldn't be too hard to surpass them. They died like trash." Zabuza said. "I'll blow the Mizukage-" Juzo glanced down at his pupil. "I'll blow Lord Mizukage away and prove myself worthy of these blades."

"It is inadvisable to speak ill of the dead, Zabuza." Kisame waged his finger. "They were all talented shinobis. We cannot speak of those fools who died to a single genin in a negative term."

"Those fools were our companions. You will see fit not to insult them, the both of you." Fuguki cut in. "It is important that we cooperate. The Swordsmen's strength is in unity. You will be taught this, and, later on, your heads won't roll to the floor all at once, understood?" Samehada's wielder turned away. "The others will bring the ship to the port. We're heading towards Mizuri Sea directly. It'll allow you to train your legs a little. Why…" Fuguki smiled sinisterly. "Take it as the first exercise. I'll lacerate the legs of those who tire out first."

The three-star pupils glanced at Samehada and all put up neutral faces, nodding respectfully. Then, hidden to the others, Kisame smiled at the living weapon. 

"Well then, we're off." And, with that, the Swordsmen evacuated the premises, leaving a blood-soaked sea behind them.

…

"Wind Style! Vacuum Bullet!" Rin leaned back, inhaling enough air to inflate her neck and torso significantly, and attacked with a barrage of sharp air projectiles, aiming to hit several of Minato's clones. Most of them fell victim to the Jutsu,, though they hardly tried to dodge in the first place, and only one was left, landing on the water and rolling forward a little before he chucked a kunai right past Rin. Recognizing her teacher's famous three-bladed weapon, the youth leaped as far away from it as possible, anticipating that he would immediately teleport away right to her to attempt another attack. 

Keeping her eyes on the weapon while it sailed past her, Rin made an acrobatic jump and landed a few meters away from where she stood, right on time for her to feel the touch of a cold weapon on the back of her neck. "Got you." Said Minato, leaving his thrown kunai to plant harmlessly into a rock. Rin nodded, and raised her hands, demonstrating that there would be no hidden trick. "Haha, sorry for that one, Rin." Apologized Minato. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it's just that… geez, you always do end those training sessions fast, huh?" The medic turned around and scratched the top of her head, while Minato put away the blunt tool he had on him. "Well, you're the Yellow Flash and all so I knew it'd be swift…"

"A bit, but I guess it's a lesson to learn. Victory on the battlefield means being sneaky." He says. "You will sometimes find occasions where victory comes down to the smallest second. So you'll need to act first before speaking, and people won't give you a chance to defend yourself if they can." Rin nodded. "It's brutal, I know, but if there's any consolation to have, I doubt that too many people will be able to pull off what I did on you." He began to jump to the red bridge above the lake. Rin, guessing that the session was at an end, decided to follow him, using her chakra to easily reach the structure. "But never drop your guard. Always assume that the enemy is plotting something, and never focus solely on what you're seeing."

"I'll remember this." Rin was all too familiar with being caught by surprise. "… But, how did you get in position so easily? I thought the kunai was what you used to transport yourself, and you didn't mark me, right?" The brown-haired youth turned her head back to glance at her back, and then did it two more times, while trying to reach for it with her hands. All to see if her teachers hadn't marked her on the back secret move. He allowed her to continue that for a few seconds before laughing. 

"I just ran up to you, you were a little distracted by the Kunai." He said. "Another lesson is that sometimes, the menace of a technique is more potent than the technique itself. I've seen a lot of people who figured out my Jutsu, or who thought I'd use it constantly." He said. "So they looked out for Kunais, or markings, and the likes… And never quite anticipated that I'd run up to them with a Rasengan." The blond looked up. "Well, a few weren't quite as simple as that, and I usually never do things this straight-forwardly anyway, but I can guarantee you that this is a good tool."

"I see..; You know, I kind of wish that I could get a signature technique like yours." She said. 

"I'd teach you the technique if I could." Rin instantly looked up with big wide eyes, and Minato held a careful finger. "But we'd need to take some more years off. It's not something that one learns easily. I smashed into rocks a lot, or I'd misjudge where I'd teleport… It's a complicated technique to learn. You're smart enough to be good with it, but there's a reason why there aren't too many users of it running around." 

"Well, you could always do it once the war is over, right?" Rin briefly imagined herself fearlessly teleporting from one Kunai to another, knocking out one thug after the other in quick succession. Then, she'd get to the last one and would smirk. "Sorry, pal, but you lost as soon as I made my first move." Entranced by the vision, the youth only realized Minato was talking to her when he snapped his fingers in front of her face multiple times, though he was more amused than irritated.

"Hm… Perhaps. It's tremendously useful, but it does take some time to even learn. Heh, we'll see, alright? Anyhow. I'm going to have to go back to my original self. He'll be coming soon anyway!" He said. "If you could get Kakashi ready… or, hm, no need for it. He'd get grumpy if his training is disrupted."

"Well, it'd be nice if we all met up to greet Lady Kushina!" Rin clapped her hands together. "I'll be off to talk to him! You can… huh, unsummon yourself, right?"

"Yeah… Well, see you soon, Rin!" Minato vanished into a puff of smoke, and the medic put her hands on her hips. The Shadow Clones that Minato used were good. She still couldn't believe that he mastered the technique enough to have a clone summon other clones… 

"I wish I could get as strong as you, one day." Rin smiled and then sighed. "One day…" She repeated.

…

If he weren't her best friend by this point, Rin would be incredibly disturbed at the sight of Kakashi alone in a room full of destroyed mannequins, his hand sore from using his signature move that much. Instead, she was only mildly disturbed, and only because she spotted the wounds on his hand. "Kakashi!" She said, approaching him. The white-haired boy deactivated his technique and slung his headband over his Sharingan as he noticed Rin. The medic walked up to her partner in an irritated manner and then stood up firmly, pointing at the wounds in an accusing manner. 

"Kakashi!" She said, attempting to imitate Kushina. How did she do it? Oh yeah. Keep one hand on the hip and always have at least one foot tap the floor. Frown like you mean it and tilt your head to the side. "I've told you to take care of your hand before!" Rin said, gathering herself as much authority as she could. "If you aren't careful, then it could get damaged real bad!" Her ominous warning delivered, Rin grasped the pouch tied to her waist (a necessity given their trainings) and started to treat Kakashi's hand on the spot, first by applying some ointment to cool them off before applying bandages. Then, just to be sure, she held her hand above his and applied a minor healing Jutsu. "This should do. The wounds will be gone by tonight." She then sighed. "But don't take it as an encouragement to overwork yourself again! Repeated trauma can be hard to deal with, and I'm lucky that you had only some minor burns.

Kakashi clenched his bandaged hands and moved his fingers around. "I should be able to suppress those soon." He said. "But… thanks for healing me. I do get carried away." He said. "How was your training?"

"Oh." Rin hadn't expected him to take her advice that well. Was she more intimidating than thought? "W-well, it went we-ialreadysaidthat it went pretty good! Well, I didn't win. Butt, winning isn't the goal of the training session." Kakashi nodded briefly. "Huh, Lady Kushina is willing. Let's greet her, right? It's only polite to do it… But we'll need to justify the bandaged hand! She might get worried if she sees it!"

"Lady Kushina knows that we're all under intense training, and at worst, I'll just say that it was caused by my carelessness… Anyhow, we should probably go." Kakashi raised his headband and looked away with his Sharingan. "They're here."

Rin nodded but before she could even take another step, she stopped, looking at the lake below with an empty look. Then, slowly, she glanced down at her stomach and her eyes widened in terror, as she spotted her seal, alight with chakra! 

"What the?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey, it's me! Sorry for the delay, guys, I got into a bit of a slump I guess.
> 
> We get to see things from Kiri's POV for a little while! The part with Sanbi may feel like an over-correction, but I just wanted to show the communication too. There's a reason why Yagura survived, and it's similar to how Bee did it in the manga, by keeping a portion of his bijuu's chakra. This will allow him to live… But for how long, exactly? 
> 
> Also, Kushina is coming up! And she'll reveal some new things about Jins in my fic, though they'll need to deal with the seal first!
> 
> Anyway, see you guys later!


End file.
